The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Kyle, NLE Choppa, Saba, and more.

Whew, what a week. In addition to videos for Denzel Curry’s “Walkin,” Gucci Mane and Lil Durk’s “Rumors,” and Blxst’s “About You,” we got a flurry of new music from Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J (“Backseat” with Project Pat) and Yella Beezy (“Talk My Sh*t“).

Friday saw the releases of Coi Leray’s “Anxiety,” Benny The Butcher’s stellar “Johnny P’s Caddy” and featuring J. Cole, and Quavo’s “Shooters Inside My Crib” along with the releases listed below.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending January 28, 2022.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Babyface Ray — Face

The Detroit rapper has made a name for himself over the past year, working with the likes of Big Sean, Hit-Boy, Jack Harlow, and Lil Yachty. Today, he dropped his debut project on Empire with features from 42 Dugg, G Herbo, Icewear Vezzo, Pusha T, and more. Babyface Ray has officially arrived.

BlocBoy JB — Bacc 2 Da Blocc

A few years removed from his breakout single “Look Alive” featuring Drake, things haven’t quite panned out for BlocBoy. The Memphis rapper still has the star power to carry a project provided the right partnerships though, and there’s no greater producer for him to pair with than Tay Keith, who EPs major-label debut for Interscope.

Doe Boy — Oh Really?

Freebandz rapper Doe Boy spreads his wings on his new album, stepping out from Future’s shadow to prove that he can be a star in his own right. He certainly has superstar connections, tapping everyone from fellow rising stars 42 Dugg and Nardo Wick to booming superstars Roddy RIcch and Ty Dolla Sign.

Dro Kenji — With Or Without You

Parlaying his association with Internet Money into a crisp-sounding full-length project, the melodic South Carolina rapper makes a declaration of independence on the follow-up to his 2020 debut Tears And Pistols. It might rub purists the wrong way, but this is the sound of rap radio in 2022 and Dro comfortably goes with the grain.

Kyle — It’s Not So Bad

On his first album since splitting with Atlantic, Kyle taps into his “R&B Kyle” persona for an 11-song collection of thoughts on love. Released as an NFT, It’s Not So Bad sees Kyle settling back into the driver’s seat of his own career and pulling from a variety of inspirations, including early-2000s pond-hopping crooner Craig David, who guests on “Unreplaceable” after getting sampled on “Sunday.”

NLE Choppa — Me Vs Me

Choppa goes for the soft reboot on his latest after recalibrating from the raucous teen upstart of his debut project into more of a spiritualist life coach in the past couple of years. However, he still shows he’s capable of tapping the troublemaking tendencies of his past to make compelling club bangers amid his more introspective moments.

Singles/Videos

AZ– “This Is Mine”

Look here: I am a sucker for Golden Era hip-hop and any artist from back then who manages to avoid sounding dating, bitter, or problematic as the world evolves around them. AZ may as well still be the 19-year-old Brooklynite who stole “Life’s A Bitch” from under Nas, rhyming as naturally and smoothly as most of us draw breath.

Joey Badass — “Temptation”

This week, I’m choosing to ignore Joey’s more headline-grabbing antics in favor of highlighting his musical output. Produced by Statik Selektah, Joey’s latest single once again mines the throwback Golden Era sound that helped him make his name, and… well, see the previous blurb for my feelings about that.

Kenny Muney — “Role Model”

Another single from PRE’s loving dedication, Long Live Dolph, “Role Model” finds Kenny holding up his mentor as the standard he’s bound to keep pursuing as he and his labelmates work to find their way in the rap game without their stalwart captain.

Method Man — “The Last 2 Minutes”

Another Golden Era vet who refuses to age, Method Man has been doing two things since the Wu’s heyday: Staying out of trouble and rapping his ass off. I’m okay with this. Keep going.

Pink Siifu — “Wayans Bros.” feat Peso Gordon

Pink Siifu is one of generation of rising rappers and producers from the internet’s primordial underground who blends sensibilities from all genres and regions of rap to form a compelling melange of styles and aesthetics that defies both boundaries and expectations. “Wayans Bros.” is a fine example.

Saba — “Survivor’s Guilt” feat. G Herbo

When I asked Saba about bridging the supposed gap between the two most prominent styles of Chicago rap with this song, he told me, “I think it’s not that it’s really two sides to Chicago. It’s two perspectives of Chicago… We’ve got a lot of the same influences. Just because you make one thing doesn’t mean you can’t be inspired by something else, so I think it’s all a matter of perspective.” Well said.

Sada Baby — “Sada Wada”

Detroit rapper Sada Baby’s momentum slowed up — in large part, through his own efforts — but he’s still one of his city’s most captivating rising stars when he focuses on capturing the unhibited energy of his breakthrough hit “Bloxk Party.”

Travis Thompson — “Psycho”

My soft spot for Seattle super spitter Travis Thompson remains intact, and Travis keeps rewarding my enthusiasm with joints like this that display both his pop songwriting sensibilities and slick-tongued wit.

Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim — “No Days Off”

Of the two tracks that the two underground rappers released this week ahead of their new joint project Tha Wolf On Wall St 2: The American Dream (which also dropped today), this one was my favorite, but only by a hair. The beats are lush and soulful, the rhymes and dextrous and daring, and the whole project fits into a breezy 22-minute runtime — all things that recommend it for repeated plays.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Teachers are heroes under normal circumstances. During a pandemic that has upended life as we know it, they are honest-to-goodness, bona fide superheroes.

The juggling of school and COVID-19 has been incredibly challenging, creating friction between officials, administrators, teachers, unions, parents and the public at large. Everyone has different opinions about what should and shouldn’t be done, which sometimes conflict with what can and cannot be done and don’t always line up with what is and isn’t being done, and the result is that everyone is just … done.

And as is usually the case with education-related controversies, teachers are taking the brunt of it. Their calls for safe school policies have been met with claims that kids aren’t at risk of severe COVID, as if teachers’ health and well-being are expendable. Parents’ frustrations with remote or hybrid learning are taken out on the teachers who are constantly scrambling to adjust to ever-changing circumstances that make everything about teaching more complicated.

Superheroes, seriously.

But as Toledo, Ohio high school teacher Katie Peters says, teachers aren’t looking for accolades. They’re doing the jobs they love, even though they’re incredibly difficult right now. What they do need is for people to understand what a teacher’s day looks like and to extend them some grace.

Peters’ TikTok video describing what she did one day as a teacher in addition to the six classes she taught has been viewed more than 2.5 million times.

After sharing that she taught six periods and subbed during her planning period, she said, “I helped a young man find safe housing. I found a winter coat for a girl who didn’t have one. I located a student’s missing backpack and arranged for a Chromebook replacement for that student. I gave a student a little bit of cash for a haircut and made sure another student had enough food to last them through the weekend.”

She also comforted a student who had cramps, supported a student who was going through his first heartbreak, saved a student’s art project with some super glue, walked a student to class so they wouldn’t feel alone and wrote a card for a student who was struggling.

That was just during the school day.

After school, she had a meeting, tutored a student, then wrote a college recommendation letter for a student who brought her the request the day before it was due.

Then she spent four hours at home planning “fun, inviting, exciting lesson plans that could, at the drop of a hat, need to go virtual without any warning.”

But Peters said she didn’t want a single accolade. “No teacher I know wants a pat on the back or gratitude,” she said. “What they do need is grace.” She pointed out that doing all of these things are what teachers love to do and what fulfills them. But it’s also why they’re tired. The pandemic has made everything harder.

Peters said a piece of her was shattered when she read a comment in a community forum about her district going back to in-person learning, “Oh, it’s nice the teachers decided to work again.” As if teachers have not been working the hardest they ever have during all of the pandemic upheaval? Please.

“Nobody, in the history of ever, has been motivated by ugly,” she said. “Loving kids is the purest form of beauty that exists—and it’s always going to beat your ugly.”

Well said.

Peters told TODAY that negative comments make teachers feel defeated, which impacts their job. “I’m not sure how much people realize that their words carry over into our ability to care for their children,” Peters said. “We need you to hold space for us and understand that we are doing our best given the circumstances.”

People loved Peters’ honest and heartfelt account of what teachers are experiencing and what they really need from the rest of us right now. Grace. Patience. Understanding. Not ugliness or blame.

If anyone who isn’t a teacher has something negative to say and thinks they could handle the job better, they are more than welcome to get their teacher training education and certification and try their hand at it. Otherwise, give teachers the respect they deserve and the grace they so desperately need right now as they try to keep their hole-filled lifeboats afloat with paperclips and a hot glue gun.

Teachers, we see you. We’ve got your back. Hang in there.

So, I’ve been pulling together these weekly roundups of goodness for several months, and I’ve noticed some common themes emerging in the things that tend to bring us joy:

1. Animals. Always.

2. Children. Kids are often hilarious.

3. Older folks. Our elders have much to teach us about embracing life.

4. The arts. Few things universally bring people together like enjoying creative expression.

Practically every “10 things that made us smile this week” post so far has been dominated by these categories, with zero intention for that to be the case. And this week’s list is no exception. Animals, kids, elders and arts. That appears to be where most of our small daily joys can be found.

I’m sure we could delve into the deeper reasons for each of those things, but do we need to? Nah. But if people are looking for a quick shot of happy hormones, perhaps that’s where they should be looking.

Thankfully, you can find those things right here, every Friday. I truly hope you love this week’s collection of smileworthy, joyworthy, delightworthy tidbits from around the internet. Enjoy!

5-year-old gives his mom advice for overcoming nerves. It’s both adorable and spot-on.

See on Instagram

Twitter user @EPrecipice shared an exchange she had with her son, and it’s the best. Click the side arrows to scroll through and see his advice. Totally going to steal “I am brave of this meeting!” “Don’t put a skunk on a bus” seems like a solid bit of wisdom. And I’m definitely going to start thinking about the donuts of my day whenever I’m feeling down.

Seven seconds of the world’s most adorable kitten.

literally everyone needs to see this videopic.twitter.com/8v71gwqMxr

— Qwobby (@Qwobby)
1643139633

They’re right. Literally everyone needs this.

Golden retriever meets new puppy and offers it a gift. 

Doggone it, this is cute. When big doggo gives little puppo the stuffed toy? Stop it. It’s too much.

Life is hard, and so we dance.

The situation with my mom (cancer and heart) and my dadu2019s (Parkinsonu2019s and dementia) health has been making me so sad. I wish I could be with them right now. So my sister sent a video of them together tonight, dancing to Neil Young. Take a moment to love your loved ones.pic.twitter.com/y2fBu26NlP

— Holli (@Holli)
1642899068

It’s the little things. And the love. Just beautiful.

Seniors enjoy some childlike thrills with an indoor inner tube ride.

We all need fun in our lives, regardless of our age or stage in life. How delightful that these residents of the StoryPoint Saline retirement community are getting this kind of care. Read the full story here.

The Gardiner Brothers tap dancing to Queen is thoroughly enjoyable. (SOUND UP)

Meet the @Gardiner_Bros again.pic.twitter.com/WEXqslT3Xg

— Don Winslow (@Don Winslow)
1643160537

What is it about the sound of tapping that’s so satisfying? Follow these five-time world champion Irish dancers, Matt and Mike Gardiner, here for more awesome performances.

The #BettyWhiteChallenge has raised more than $12.7 million for animal welfare.

Fans of Betty White wanted to do something special for what would have been her 100th birthday, which prompted a grassroots challenge to raise money for animal shelters and rescues in her name. Meta announced that more than $12.7 million was raised just through Facebook and Instagram donations alone. Read the story here.

World-class pianist regains the ability to play after 20 years, thanks to bionic gloves.

See on Instagram

Just watching his face as he plays tells the story. So beautiful. Technological innovation can be life-changing.

Woman interviews animals with a tiny mic and it’s oddly entertaining.

Maya Higa’s “tiny mic interviews” have become a hit on YouTube and it’s easy to see why (once you get through the disclaimers at the beginning—you can skip the first minute with the understanding that these are rescued animals in a sanctuary, not pets). Who knew a porcupine made that noise? Read the full story here.

Kid really, really, really loves komodo dragons, even though “they eat people.”

See on Instagram

This video is never not hilarious. His fascination with komodo dragons is just so wholesome (despite the whole wanting to see one eat a person thing).

Hope that made your day! Check back in next Friday for another roundup of the internet’s most delightful finds.

The long-awaited Masters Of The Universe live-action is finally getting some movement. The movie has been in development hell for over a decade, but Netflix has finally acquired the rights to the film, which is slated to begin filming this summer. Adam and Aaron Nee are attached to direct, with the screenplay written by David Callaham, known for his work on Shang-Chi and Wonder Woman 1984.

Along with the Netflix acquisition, West Side Story star Kyle Allen is attached to star as Prince Adam aka He-Man. Sorry to Noah Centineo, who reportedly bulked up for the role several years ago. Maybe he can be cast as Skeletor?

Robbie Brenner, the executive producer of Mattel Films, told Deadline: “Masters of the Universe is an iconic property that shaped the imaginations of an entire generation of kids with the message of becoming the best version of yourself. With our partners at Netflix, we look forward to showing audiences that anything can happen in Eternia. We are continuing to unlock this global franchise in new ways, and we can’t wait to see Kyle battle it out with Skeletor in this epic live-action saga.”

Masters of the Universe has seen many rebrands and variations over the years, but this is the first live-action take since the 1987 movie starring Dolph Lundgren as He-man, which was a box office disaster, but its legacy lives on.

This isn’t the first Masters content to come from Netflix, which brought an animated series to life last summer with the help of Kevin Smith.

Hollywood is not an artistic utopia where all creative visionaries are welcomed as equal. It’s a profit-hungry machine, one that runs on conventional storytelling from a mostly male cadre of tried and true directors churning out franchise behemoths and superhero sagas to appease the entertainment-craving masses. And yet, women are finding a way to get their stories made. They have been for decades, confronting the comfort of oft-repeated formulas — in front of and behind the camera — that normally sideline female storytellers and their singular insight, pushing back against stereotypes and forcing the powers that be to take notice.

Despite some disheartening industry reports that detail how the percentage of female directors involved in top-grossing films fell in 2021, there’s a crop of veteran filmmakers and up-and-coming talent breaking down gates that have been kept closed to them for too long. Some have years of experience behind the camera, quietly disrupting the status quo with beloved rom-com classics while some are just dipping their toes into original storytelling. The one thing they all have in common? They’re all on the rise, readying to have their names dominating the conversation this year and forging a new path for the female directors that follow. These women are crafting fresh and inventive stories within the genre spaces fans have come to love, helming Star Wars spinoffs and Marvel series. They’re also trudging familiar treks, turning out indie darlings and award-winning miniseries that prove original storytelling isn’t dead — it’s just waiting for the right director to bring it to life on-screen.

In 2022, these women are poised to go mainstream in an exciting way, delivering long-awaited TV shows and buzzworthy awards fare that Hollywood can’t help but take notice of. Here’s a handful of female directors to keep on your radar this year and beyond.

Nia DaCosta

Past Work: Little Woods, Candyman
Up Next: The Marvels

An acolyte of auteurs like Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, Nia DaCosta’s filmography is littered with the kind of gritty, thrilling crime dramas that her predecessors are known for. What makes DaCosta different is her subject matter, and the emotional sensitivity she brings to stories that feel both universal and impressively singular.

Her first feature, the Sundance breakout Little Woods, centered on two estranged sisters, living in poverty and determined to earn a better life for themselves – by whatever means necessary. With subtly brilliant performances from Tessa Thompson and Lily James, DaCosta’s directorial debut touched on everything from women’s reproductive rights to the oppressive nature of poverty to toxic masculinity and more. When Jordan Peele tapped her to direct Candyman, a spiritual sequel to the iconic Black horror franchise, she incorporated timely themes – like gentrification, artistic gatekeeping, and America’s refusal to reckon with its racist past (and present). She’s pushing some of those social issues even further forward when she helms The Marvels, the sequel to Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, that features the studio’s first female Pakistani lead superhero, Kamala Khan — a film that feels destined to continue her growing legacy on screen as she weaves in more serious subject matter into genre and superhero fare.

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Past Work: Love & Basketball, Beyond The Lights, The Old Guard
Up Next: The Woman King

Gina Prince-Bythewood’s seminal romantic comedy Love & Basketball defined the genre in the early aughts. Starring Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps, the love story follows a pair of talented basketball players as their friendship morphs into something more over the course of a decade. The film not only gave audiences an authentic look at the trials and pitfalls of young love, but it also sported a female lead that happened to be a confident, capable Black woman breaking ground in a predominately male sport. What other early 2000s rom-com can say that?

What makes Prince-Bythewood’s filmography so impressive is her range. She adapted the bestselling novel The Secret Life of Bees, a story about the unflinching resilience of Black women and the enduring bonds of sisterhood, before creating the pop music-infused romantic drama Beyond The Lights. She switched genres again in 2020, becoming the first biracial woman to direct a comic book property with Netflix’s adrenaline-packed action-adventure The Old Guard – earning praise for crafting elaborate fight sequences and globe-trotting, fantasy-tinged storylines that played to star Charlize Theron’s strengths. Next, Prince-Bythewood is producing a sequel to the film and helming the highly-anticipated drama, The Woman King. Based on true events, the historical epic stars Viola Davis as the general of an all-female military unit in the Kingdom of Dahomey, an 18th-century African state whose Amazonian soldiers fought off French invaders.

Karen Maine

Past Work: Yes God Yes
Up Next: Rosaline

Karen Maine co-wrote the Jenny Slate-starring dark comedy, Obvious Child – a messy tale of a quick hookup gone wrong that manages to mine humor from failed relationships, unfulfilling careers, and abortion. So really, it shouldn’t be surprising that her directorial debut was the hormonally-charged teenage comedy, Yes God Yes. Starring Stranger Things’ Natalie Dyer, the film harnesses Maine’s dark comedic leanings to tell the story of a sexually-repressed Catholic schoolgirl who uses a spiritual retreat to explore her own carnal desires. It’s raunchy and bold. But it’s also incredibly sweet at times – a hard balance to strike but one Maine seems to handle with ease. She’s building up her romantic comedy street cred with a revisionist take on the Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo + Juliet, but instead of focusing on the titular lovers of fair Verona, Maine’s more interested in the scorned Rosaline and her attempts to break up the doomed couple.

Maria Schrader

Past Work: Unorthodox, I’m Your Man
Up Next: She Said

Maria Shrader’s devastating limited series Unorthodox is a difficult binge on Netflix, but a worthwhile one all the same. It tells the story of a young, ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who flees her strict, religious upbringing following an arranged marriage. The subject matter is dark at times and the performance from star Shira Hass is haunting, but Schrader brings an integral lens through which she conveys a different perspective on female empowerment and spirituality. Her feature debut, I’m Your Man, is equally poignant with Dan Stevens playing a humanoid robot learning to be… well, human, for the first time. Soon, she’ll be tackling even more serious fare, heading up She Said, an interpretation of the groundbreaking investigation by New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor into the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the feminist movement it sparked.

Deborah Chow

Past Work: The Mandalorian, American Gods
Up Next: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Not only is Canadian filmmaker Deborah Chow the first woman and first person of Asian descent to direct a live-action Star Wars project with The Mandalorian – but she’s also the creative genius who gave us the iconic Werner Herzog delivery “I would like to see the baby,” in the show’s third episode. Chow got her start directing shorts and the critically well-received indie drama The High Cost of Living, but it’s through the Star Wars universe that she’s been able to pay homage to her Chinese father’s love of Hong Kong action films. Her climactic action sequence in the show’s first season is a tense, Yojimbo-like standoff between a group of Mandalorians and the bounty hunters that proves she’ll bring a visionary inventiveness to her next space epic, the highly-anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Meera Menon

Past Work: Farah Goes Bang, For All Mankind, The Magicians
Up Next: Ms. Marvel

A student of storytellers like Mira Nair, Lynne Ramsay, and Sofia Coppola, Meera Menon is an Indian-American director unafraid to challenge the perceived limits of her artistic capabilities by wading into multiple genres and juggling thought-provoking themes from her spot behind the lens. Her first feature, Farah Goes Bang, is a wild mix between a road-trip buddy comedy flick and a sexually-charged coming of age narrative with political undertones. And her work on shows as varied as Syfy’s The Magicians and Apple TV+’s space drama For All Mankind prove she’s confident in every timeframe and every alternate universe contained within the bounds of cinema. It’s a good thing too because next up is Ms. Marvel, the Disney+ miniseries promising us a long-awaited introduction to Marvel’s first Muslim superheroine, Kamala Khan.

Neil Young has officially pulled his music off Spotify, citing his distaste for the streaming service giving a platform to known anti-vaccine conspiracist, Joe Rogan. In the past, Neil has taken umbrage with streaming services that didn’t support high quality sound, even going so far as to create his own mp3 player at one point.

Now that most of his music, at least, is off Spotify, he’s taken back up that old point to further criticize the platform. Today, Young wrote a short missive on his site about the situation, and he also repeatedly notes that when he left Spotify “I felt better,” and encourages listeners to really dig into their experience with the platform. Read it here or check it out in full below.

“When I left SPOTIFY, I felt better.

Digital music has been with us about 40 years now. Digital, rather than reproducing copies of the music as we did back in the analog day, reconstitutes it from 1s and 0s and plays back data that you hear as music.

This allows business people like those who run SPOTIFY to cut the quality right down to 5% of the music’s content. It’s just math. It’s easy to do that with digital, thus allowing more songs and less music to stream faster. That’s because 95% is missing. Thats what SPOTIFY the Tech company does. SPOTIFY then sells you the downgraded music.
When I started everyone got to hear all the music. 100%.

AMAZON, APPLE MUSIC and Qobuz deliver up to 100% of the music today and it sounds a lot better than the shitty degraded and neutered sound of SPOTIFY. If you support SPOTIFY, you are destroying an art form. Business over art. SPOTIFY plays the artist’s music at 5% of its quality and charges you like it was the real thing.

AMAZON, APPLE MUSIC and Qobuz now deliver the real thing. SPOTIFY is ripping you off and has been since day 1. No goosebumps from SPOTIFY sound!

Switch to one of the alternatives – companies that support the arts. Real sound is available there. AMAZON, APPLE MUSIC and Qobuz You just have to leave Spotify and go to a new place that truly cares about music quality.

I met Danile [sic] Ek when he started SPOTIFY. it sounded to me like he was really going to be getting into it. That was a long time ago. I wonder what happened.

When I left Spotify, I felt better.

I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.

As an unexpected bonus, I sound better everywhere else.

love earth be well neil”

Even though HBO Max’s hit The Righteous Gemstones just returned for its long-awaited second season this month, many are wondering if the series will keep going after the season finale, which airs later in February.

The show, which began in 2019, follows the Gemstone family and their shenanigans as a televangelical family that might not be as squeaky as their church-members believe them to be. The first season was met with critical acclaim. But will there be a third season after the second finishes up? Or will the story end there?

The good news is that HBO Max renewed The Righteous Gemstones for a third season, which will most likely air sometime in 2023. While no official premiere date is set, it definitely will exist. We have not seen the last of the Gemstones.

Executive Vice President of HBO Amy Gravitt confirmed the news earlier this week, saying “After a season of literal fire and brimstone, blood, sand, and rollerblading, who wouldn’t come back for more?” says Gravitt. “The Gemstone family makes us laugh like nobody else.”

The show stars John Goodman as patriarch Eli Goodman and his children, eldest Jesse (Danny McBride), middle (and often looked-over) Judy (Edi Patterson) and the youngest, Kelvin (Adam DeVine). Other stars include Cassidy Freeman, Tony Cavalero, Tim Baltz, Skyler Gisondo, Greg Alan Williams, Walton Goggins,and Jennifer Nettles.

You can catch up on all of the Gemstones drama, streaming on HBO Max.

In the video for “Little Havana” from Rick Ross’ eleventh studio album Richer Than I Ever Been, a title card introduces the song’s guest monologue from Willie Falcon, explaining just who the former kingpin is for those who heard him on the original but didn’t understand his significance to the Miami rapper’s music.

The video also adds a counterpoint from Ross himself, framing Falcon’s opening monologue as a phone conversation between the two men as Willie looks over his gorgeous tropical surroundings and Ross surveys his luxuriously appointed, fully stocked liquor shelf. As the beat kicks in, Ross and The-Dream, the song’s other featured artist, cruise through the nighttime Miami streets in a Rolls-Royce convertible taking in the city’s neon-washed nightlife.

In addition to “Little Havana,” Ross’ latest album also includes the singles “Outlawz” featuring 21 Savage and Jazmine Sullivan, and “Wiggle” featuring DreamDoll. The 12-song album, which also featured Benny The Butcher, Blxst, Future, Wale, and Wiz Khalifa, was followed up by a deluxe version that added three new songs including “Vacheron” featuring Golden Era veteran AZ and “Not For Nothing” with frequent Ross collaborator Anderson .Paak.

Watch Rick Ross’ “Little Havana” video featuring The-Dream and Willie Falcon above.

Richer Than I Ever Been is out now via Epic Records. You can stream it here.

Nothing can ever fully prepare you for being an adult. Once you leave childhood behind, the responsibilities, let-downs and setbacks come at you fast. It’s tiring and expensive, and there’s no easy-to-follow roadmap for happiness and success.

A Reddit user named u/Frequent-Pilot5243 asked the online forum, “What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for?” and there were a lot of profound answers that get to the heart of the disappointing side of being an adult.

One theme that ran through many responses is the feeling of being set adrift. When you’re a kid, the world is laid out as a series of accomplishments. You learn to walk, you figure out how to use the bathroom, you start school, you finish school, maybe you go to college, and so on.

However, once we’re out of the school system and out from under our parents’ roofs, there is a vast, complicated world out there and it takes a long time to learn how it works. The tough thing is that if you don’t get a good head start, you can spend the rest of your life playing catch-up.

Then, you hit middle age and realize that life is short and time is only moving faster.

Adulthood also blindsides a lot of people because we realize that many adults are simply children who grew older. The adult world is a lot more like high school than a teenager could ever imagine.

The Reddit thread may seem a bit depressing at first, but there are a lot of great lessons that younger people can take to heart. The posts will also make older people feel a lot better because they can totally relate.

Being an adult is hard, exhausting and expensive. But we’re all in this together and by sharing the lessons we’ve learned we can help lighten each other’s load just a bit.

Here are 21 of the most powerful responses to the question: “What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?”

1. Lack of purpose

“Lack of purpose. All your young life you are given purpose of passing exams and learning, then all of a sudden you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning,” — Captain_Snow.

2. No bed time

“You can stay up as late as you want. But you shouldn’t,” — geek-fit

3. Friendships

“Where did all my friends go?” — I_Love_Small_Breasts

Most of them are at the same place as you are … Probably wondering the same thing,” — Blackdraon003

4. Bodily changes

“I’m closer to fifty than forty, would have been nice to be better prepared for some of the ways your body starts to change at this point that don’t normally get talked about. For instance your teeth will start to shift from general aging of your gums,” — dayburner.

5. People don’t change

“Didnt know that other adults have the emotional intelligence of teenagers and its almost impossible to deal with logically,” — Super-Progress-6386

6. Money

“$5K is a lot to owe, but not a lot to have,” — Upper-Job5130

7. Our parents age, too

“Handling the decline and death of your parents,” – Agave666

8. Free time

“Not having a lot of free-time or time by myself,” — detective_kiara

9. No goals

“Not having a pre-defined goal once I was out of college. Growing up my goals were set for me: get through elementary school! then middle school! Then high school, and get into college and get a degree, then get a job, and then…? Vague “advance in your career, buy a house, find a spouse, have a kid or multiple, then retire.” At 22 I had no idea how to break that down more granularly,” — FreehandBirdlime

10. Constant upkeep

“Life is all about maintenance. Your body, your house, your relationships, everything requires constant never ending maintenance,” — IHateEditedBGMusic

11. Exhaustion

“Being able to do so many things because I’m an adult but too tired to do any of them,” — London82

12. Loneliness

“Being an adult feels extremely lonely,” — Bluebloop0

13. Dinner

“Having to make dinner every. Fucking. Day,” — EndlesslyUnfinished

14. Time changes

“The more life you’ve lived, the faster time seems to go,” — FadedQuill

15. You’re responsibile, even if you didn’t mean it

“You are held to account for bad behaviour for which you are negligent even if you had no intention to cause harm. As a lawyer, I see this all the time. People don’t think they’re responsible for mistakes. You are,” — grishamlaw

16. Work is like high school

“The intricacies of workplace politics,” — Steve_Lobsen writes. “

“When you’re in school, you think that you won’t have to deal with gossiping and bullying once you leave school. Unfortunately, that is not true,” — lady_laughs_too_much

17. Nowhere to turn

“How easy it is to feel stuck in a bad situation (job, relationship, etc) just because the cost and effort of getting out can seem daunting. And sometimes you just have to accept a figurative bowl full of shit because you can’t afford to blow up your life,” — movieguy95453

18. The happiness question

“Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you’re good at, or that makes you money, but never to pursue what you enjoy,” — eternalwanderer5

19. Constant cleaning

“The kitchen is always dirty. You’ll clean it at least three times every day,” — cewnc

20. Life costs money

“One adult problem nobody prepared me for is how expensive everything is. I always thought that as an adult I would be able to afford the things I wanted, but it turns out that’s not always the case! I’ve had to learn how to budget and save up for the things I want, and it’s been a difficult process,” — Dull_Dog_8126

21. Keeping above water

“All of it together. I was relatively warned about how high rent is, car bills and repairs, how buying healthy food is expensive as hell but important for your health, how to exercise and save what you can, my parents did their best to fill in my knowledge about taxes and healthcare and insurance that my schooling missed, about driving and cleaning a household, about setting boundaries at work but working hard and getting ahead if you can, about charity and what it means to take care of a pet and others, about being a good partner if you were lucky enough to have one, about how dark and messed up the world is when you just read the news and what all that means to me and my community… I was reasonably warned about all of it.

“No one could have ever prepared me for how hard doing all of it at the same time and keeping your head above that water would actually be,” — ThatNoNameWriter

Kids might say the darnedest things, but occasionally they also give sage advice.

A teacher in the United Kingdom by the name of George Pointon has made a name for himself by tweeting his 6-year-old students’ comical, candid and sometimes profound answers to weekly questions.

Or, as he humorously writes in his Twitter bio, “exploiting children’s imagination for likes.”

One of my favorite threads so far is when Pointon asked his students to create a “mantra to help us through life.” The teacher posted each student’s response, along with some commentary.

It’s all some noteworthy food for thought, if not harmless, wholesome entertainment.

Best of all, the genuine affection Pointon has for his students is undeniable.

Rory: “Don’t stop running”

Pointon: “The other day I grunted when picking up my keys from the table. If I didn’t stop running, I’d die. Rory has gone for the Forrest Gump approach here. It seemed to work for him. Forrest that is. I’ve seen Rory run into multiple trees. Persistent tho.”

Rory might be running into trees, but some spot-on perspectives on life as well.

JJ: “Only be friends with people who you want to be friends with”

Pointon: “This gets forgotten about in adults. Sometimes we are friends with people out of convenience or history. Look around and ask yourself, “does this person positively impact my life?”. JJ has his head screwed on.”

JJ understands the value of authentic friendship. And, as Pointon reflected, setting boundaries and letting go is something so many adults struggle with, though there are countless sources noting its importance.

Jack: “You might [get] told off but sometimes you’re not doing anything wrong”

Pointon: “His anti-authority attitude is refreshing as it is scary. He’s right tho. Fight for what you believe in and it’s never wrong. Although Jack believes he can back flip over a lorry, so I don’t know.”

What’s a lorry, you may ask? Turns out it’s a British term for an 18-wheeler. I didn’t know either.

Ravi: “Some people don’t have anything so be happy you have everything”

Pointon: “We truly are in the presence of greatness. There are world leaders without this clarity. Step back and look at what we take for granted, you’ll be amazed. Ravi elevates people around him. He’s a special lad.”

I believe this was a major theme that “Don’t Look Up” was trying to convey. Well done, Ravi.

Lola: “You can’t swim in a sink but a bath is just a big sink”

Pointon: “I believe she’s talking about perspective. One person’s baby step is another’s giant leap. Lola moves at her pace and is proud of the people around her moving at theirs. Otherwise you’ll lose a one horse race.”

I’m gonna assume Lola is also a proponent of the “just keep swimming” mentality.

Emma: “The people who don’t talk, still have something to say”

Pointon: “Empty vessels makes the most noise. Emma is quiet and has grown in confidence since I’ve known her. She is an advocate for letting people be themselves. A true woman of her time. She’ll make an excellent leader.”

Hear, hear for quiet confidence, Emma.

Belle: “Flowers live in the ground, we live in a house. Everyone lives somewhere.”

Pointon: “It’s a huge, overwhelming concept to think every individual lives an equally complex and rich life as you. Knowing that everyone is coming from something make[s] you see we’re all the same. One team.”

A lesson in empathy, taught by Belle.

Mikey: “Mud hills are fun but also muddy”

Pointon: “I’d never heard of the term “mud hill” but I assumed it’s a hill, that is muddy. I was wrong. It’s basically a pile of mud mashed up and used to throw at cars or people…So if you see a boy holding a mud ball with a devilish grin, run.”

No such thing as good, clean fun, according to Mikey.

Zahra: “Some things are cool and some things aren’t”

Pointon: “There is no messing about with Zahra. A woman of precision. She wanted to add that if you find things cool, then it is. Which in itself is a pretty cool thing to say. If you enjoy something, don’t let other[s] bring you down.”

Zahra is clearly the Queen of Cool.

Susanna: “Don’t start a fire in a forrest”

Pointon: “I take this as, understanding your situation and objectively being able to know what is benefitting you and what isn’t. But Susanna confirmed that there is no subtext. Just don’t start fires in forrests because it goes whoosh, okay.”

I also love how Pointon was loyal to Susanna’s spelling of the word “forrest.” That dedication right there.

According to indy100, Pointon protects the identity of his young pupils by using made-up aliases. But reassured, the answers provided are all too real.

Pointon told indy100, “School can sometimes make you think quite linear, like there are only right or wrong answers but, especially with them being so young, their thoughts are actually really abstract.”

Passion, purpose, and a dash of social media stardom have allowed Pointon to help raise awareness around children’s issues. Last November he worked with the Anti-Bullying Alliance, asking the question “what makes you unique?”

For Zahra, it was her two different eye colors. For Susanna, it was the fact that she could fit 100 grapes in her mouth (Pointon isn’t so sure, but encouraging nonetheless).

Pointon hopes to work with even more charities, using his platform to “have conversations with children about things that need to be spoken about, or things that are going on in the world and get their point of view on things.”

In the meantime, you can catch all of Pointon’s thoughtful questions, along with his students’ endearing and brilliant answers, on Twitter.