Month: February 2022

James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” segment on The Late Late Show has produced some memorable music moments over the years. Perhaps the most beloved among them is when Adele rapped Nicki Minaj’s verse from Kanye West’s “Monster,” a viral moment that helped the Adele “Carpool Karaoke” episode become easily the most-watched video on the Late Late Show YouTube channel, with over 252 million views as of today. Well, Minaj was on Corden last night, and while there, she returned the favor by showing of her impression of Adele.

The two re-watched Adele’s rap and then Minaj offered a reaction, saying, “First of all, It’s Adele. Second of all, it’s ‘Monster.’ You guys made such an amazing freaking tag team, by the way. I never got to tell you that. That made my day, my year. I probably got a thousand phone calls about that one thing.”

Corden then asked Minaj what her Adele impersonation sounds like, and Minaj replied by doing an Adele voice and explaining her thought process behind achieving the nuanced impression:

“Alright, in order for me to channel Adele, I sort of have to think like a Black lady in London, right? Because the thing is, normally, everybody knows, my British accent is sort of like a posh white lady, a rich white lady, right? But with Adele, I sort of have to, like, transform, like she might have used to sell crack. Like maybe she used to be hustling, like nickels and dimes in the hood, and then she got her big break. That’s what I see when I see her, like she’s always… it’s so expressive, right?”

Minaj was all over The Late Late Show last night, so check out the Adele bit above and other clips from the show below.

(Spoilers for The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai will be found below.)

Cobra Kai continued to crane-kick the generation gap with Season 4 in such a way that we get to see O.G. characters as squabbling, soap-opera senseis while the younger characters are the ones keeping reality (outside the dojos) together. One of those characters would be Tory Nichols (portrayed by Peyton List), who has made many bullying turns (particularly against Daniel LaRusso’s daughter, Samantha) but has worked toward redemption and nearly achieved that goal by the Season 4 finale. What’s next for Tory when Season 5 arrives?

Well that depends on how she reacts to this gut-punch.

That’s the moment when Tory realized that Terry Silver bribed an All Valley Tournament rep into making a call (against Samantha) that set her up to win that trophy. Tory thought she earned the trophy, fair and square, but if one goes back and looks at the referee calls, one was definitely iffy, and it happened so quickly that everyone let it go. Except that now, Tory probably won’t be able to let it go.

Tory’s had a rough go of things, for sure. She supports her whole family by working odd (and humiliating) jobs while, in comparison, most of her peers (other than Hawk, who lost his righteous hair) have a relatively easy time simply attending high school. She might even decide to bolt from the dojo, and if she does so, I hope this is what comes next:

Following the framing of John Kreese by super-karate-villain Terry Silver, Kreese will be stuck in jail on charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder. Silver had forced Stingray (Paul Hausser) to make these allegations against Kreese, even though Silver was the one who did the horrible deed. Tory, however, could help fix things — perhaps there’s surveillance footage, and Tory could discover it while looking for dirt against Silver? — and spring Kreese from the joint.

If this happens, it would help complete Tory’s redemption arc, and it wouldn’t seem out of the blue for this to happen. After all, Kreese is the only adult who stepped up to support Tory during her awful home life. Kreese even went to Daniel’s wife, Amanda, and told her that Tory is actually a decent person who’s been trapped in terrible circumstances. So, it would make sense for Tory to want to help Kreese defend himself against those criminal charges. Then maybe they can both put an end to Terry Silver’s reign and start a completely new dojo. Because hey, one can never have too many dojos in this show.

Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ is currently streaming the first four seasons on Netflix.

Conway the Machine is just a few weeks away from releasing his next album, God Don’t Make Mistakes. The project will be his first album since 2020’s From King To A God. That project was one of many albums that Griselda released over the course of that year including Westside Gunn’s Pray 4 Paris and Benny The Butcher’s Burden Of Proof. Ahead of the arrival of God Don’t Make Mistakes, Conway, Westside, and Benny bring their lyrical talents together for “John Woo Flick.” On the track, the Griselda trio goes to work by showcasing their top-notch lyricism over the song’s haunting production.

This year could prove to be another big one for the Griselda crew. Their first offering will be Conway’s God Don’t Make Mistakes which is set to arrive on March 25. Next up will most likely be Benny’s Tana Talk 4. While a release date for that project has yet to be revealed, the rapper recently shared its latest single, “Johnny P’s Caddy” with J. Cole, so the project may arrive sooner than later. As for Westside Gunn, it remains to be seen if he’ll deliver a project this year as he dropped off the double-disced Hilter Wears Hermes 8 last fall. That project came after he released Pray 4 Paris and Who Made The Sunshine in 2020.

You can listen to “John Woo Flick” in the video above.

God Don’t Make Mistakes is out 3/25 via Shady/Interscope.

This past November marked one year since Chicago rapper King Von was shot and killed at a nightclub in Atlanta. Von’s death occurred during his rise in the hip-hop world, which was boosted by his 2020 project, Welcome To O’Block. Since his death, Von has been honored in multiple ways — especially by Lil Durk, who often referred to him as “twin.” As for music from the latter rapper, most of his releases have come in the form of guest features, but today that changes with Von’s latest single.

Von and 21 Savage join forces for “Don’t Play That.” The track serves as another example of Von’s straight-to-the-point raps which left little to no room for any fun or games. It’s this approach that makes 21 Savage a perfect guest for the song as he provides cut-throat bars for his verse on the song. Prior to this single, King Von made a posthumous appearance on the F9 tracklist after his estate released videos for “Mine Too,” “Jump,” and “Armed & Dangerous.”

As for 21 Savage, he recently joined JID and Baby Tate for “Surround Sound.” That collaboration arrived after he ended 2021 with two new songs: “No Debate” and “Big Smoke.” Additionally, Savage also declared that it’s time for a new album which should come as good news to his fans.

You can listen to “Don’t Play That” in the video above.

The Clippers played “host” to the Lakers on Thursday night in the Battle of L.A. squads and through three quarters it looked as though they’d cruise to a win over their in-town rivals.

A furious fourth quarter rally from the Lakers erased a 12-point advantage, though, and those that stuck around were treated to a wild finish at Crypto.com Arena. The two teams traded big buckets down the stretch, with Malik Monk and Russell Westbrook each hitting big shots for the Lakers to give them late leads, while Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson had answers on the other end. Ultimately, it came down to the final 20 seconds with a one-point game after a Morris three gave the Clippers the lead back after Monk had drilled a three of his own on the other end.

What transpired from there was one of the wildest finishes in the NBA this season, starting with a beautiful pick-and-roll run by Westbrook and Anthony Davis, who caught a go-ahead lob with 12 seconds to play.

Reggie Jackson literally skipped up the floor, pushing the pace in transition, and then spun through a bad double attempt by Westbrook and got to the rim before Davis was able to help down and kissed a floater off the glass over the late help from Monk. Davis then got the rebound and took the ball coast-to-coast, getting a pretty great look that rimmed out at the buzzer to give the Clippers a win (and getting them back to .500) while the Lakers dropped back to 25-28 with the loss.

Even LeBron had to tip his cap to Jackson and the Clippers for the late game flurry in what was one of the most fun final minutes of the season.

Davis finished with 30 points and 17 rebounds as he has looked to be back to his dominant self since returning from a knee sprain, and got some help from Monk’s 21 points and Westbrook’s 17, but they just didn’t get much else from the rest of the squad. On the other side, Morris was huge with 29 points and seven rebounds for the Clippers, while Jackson provided late heroics with his 25 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, and Serge Ibaka chipped in 20 points and eight boards in the win.

Queen Naija and Big Sean both released full-length projects in 2020 with Missundertsood and Detroit 2, respectively. Queen Naija’s Missundertsood served as her official debut album complete with 18 songs and features from Kiana Lede, Lil Durk, Lucky Daye, Toosii, Latto, and more. Big Sean’s Detroit 2 was his fifth album and it arrived after he went almost more than three years without dropping a full-length project. Nowadays, both acts are surely working on their body of work, but until it arrives, you can enjoy their first collaboration, “Hate Our Love.”

Together, Queen Naija and Big Sean aim to rise above the hate they feel around them and prove the doubters of romance wrong. They both detail a love that remains solid between the two of them, but the noise from outside individuals proves to be a bit of a nuisance. Rather than let it tear them apart, Queen Naija and Big Sean strive to win and beat all the odds.

“Hate Our Love” arrives less than a year after Queen Naija released an extended version of Missundertsood with seven additional songs, Missundertsood… Still. It also presented quest appearances from Ari Lennox, Wale, and J.I. The Prince Of NY. Last fall, Big Sean connected with Hit-Boy for their project, What You Expect which delivered six songs with features from Lil Durk, Bryson Tiller, 42 Dugg, and Babyface Ray.

You can press play on the video above to listen to “Hate Our Love.”

Last summer, Machine Gun Kelly proudly announced that his sixth album would be titled Born With Horns. He shared the news by revealing matching tattoos he got with Travis Barker, who is set to contribute heavy production to the project. Well, that was last year. Now, MGK is ready to release the album but with a brand new title: Mainstream Sellout. The project appears to be a sequel of sorts to his 2020 release, Tickets To My Downfall. With a March 25 release date locked in for MGK’s sixth album, he returns with its latest single, “Emo Girl” featuring Willow.

The new single is an upbeat record that continues MGK’s latest chapter as a pop punk singer. On it, he and Willow detail a growing love for an emo girl with lines like “She tells me lies but she knows all of my secrets” and “She knows all the words to the trap songs.” It’s MGK’s first single for the year and his first track since last year’s “Papercuts” with Travis Barker. As for Willow, the track arrives after she and Travis Barker ended 2021 with a remix of “Transparent Soul” with Kid Cudi. She also released her fourth album, Lately I Feel Everything, last summer.

You can listen to “Emo Girl” in the video above.

Mainstream Sellout is out 3/25 via Bad Boy/Interscope. You can pre-save it here.

After going a little over a year and a half without a project, 2 Chainz is back in action with his seventh album Dope Don’t Sell Itself. It’s an effort that 2 Chainz he been teasing and promoting since last summer and it’s also supported by singles like “Million Dollars Worth Of Game” with 42 Dugg and “Pop Music” with Moneybagg Yo and Beatking. The album is finally here, presenting 12 songs for listeners to enjoy as a new video for the D4L-sampling “Neighbors Know My Name.” In it, 2 Chainz takes on the role of a dance instructor as he teaches a few ladies to lean and rock with it like true millennials.

Throughout the 12 songs on Dope Don’t Sell Itself, listeners can catch additional guest appearances from Lil Baby, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Durk, Sleepy Rose, Swae Lee, Steve God Cooks, Symba, and Jacquees. The project serves as a solid follow-up to 2 Chainz’s 2020 album, So Help Me God. More recently, Dope Don’t Sell Itself arrives after 2 Chainz brought his talents to Power 106’s LA Leakers for a stellar freestyle over Pharcyde’s 1993 classic, “Passin’ Me By.”

As for what’s next, fans can expect 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne to deliver their long-waited ColleGrove 2 project at some point this year.

You can watch the video for “Neighbors Know My Name” above.

Dope Don’t Sell Itself is out now via Def Jam. You can get it here.

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

YG appears to be gearing up to release his upcoming sixth album which would be his first solo full-length effort since 2020’s My Life 4Hunnid. So far, the Compton native has released one single, “Sign Language,” for the potential project, but his latest drop looks to make quite the splash. YG recruits J. Cole and Moneybagg Yo for their new single, “Scared Money.” The new track is a sinister release that presents the rappers’ unabashed approach towards making money and staying rich. The song is also paired with a confident video that captures the trio flexing their wealth by holding stacks of money to their ear in a safe and dancing as more cash falls from the sky.

“Scared Money” serves as the latest entry in J. Cole’s current guest feature run. In recent months, Cole has connected with Wale (“Poke It Out“), Young Thug (“Stressed Out“), “Joyner Lucas (“Your Heart“), and Benny The Butcher (“Johnny P’s Caddy“). Cole’s latest feature run comes after he initially said his 2019 song with Gang Starr would be the “last feature you’ll hear from me,” a statement he retracted after some self-reflection as revealed in his 2020 documentary, Applying Pressure: The Off-Season.

As for Moneybagg Yo, he’s been on a bit of a feature run as well with the Memphis native lacing records with Polo G, French Montana, 2 Chainz, NLE Choppa, and more. He even has a record on Kanye West’s Donda 2 on the way.

You can watch the video for “Scared Money” above.

The music internet can rejoice — new music from Mitski has officially arrived. Her latest album, Laurel Hell, follows up her 2019 project Be The Cowboy, which created so much fervor among fans that the songwriter left the internet completely for a quite a while after it came out, just to get some peace. Perhaps said overzealous fans learned their lesson, as the reception for Laurel Hell has been decidedly cooler.

Indie superstardom has definitely shifted a lot over the last decade or two, and as our own critic Steven Hyden noted in his review of Mitski’s new album, pop star level attention on someone who came up as an independent artist can be a challenging crossroads to navigate. “If she stays, does she want to be a mainstream star who performs in stadiums with other mainstream stars, or does she want to be an enigmatic cult indie hero?” he writes. “Laurel Hell suffers from not resolving these issues before now.”

Tonight’s newest single, “Stay Soft” does feel like it swings between two poles, a rollicking synth-pop melody and Mitski’s always-pristine alto vocals, but even when the song hits a crescendo on the chorus, it never really opens up to anything. The video, however, is a different story, as Mitski gives blood to a greedy Venus flytrap, gets kidnapped, and dances under the moonlight with her captors. She eventually gets free, but at a price. Check it out above.