The Warriors won Game 5 in San Francisco on Monday night to take a 3-2 lead on the Celtics in the NBA Finals, but one familiar face was not there in the crowd to see it, as Big Daws aka Fake Klay had been banned from the arena earlier that night after he strolled through security dressed as Klay Thompson and spent 10 minutes getting shots up before the arena staff realized their mistake and had him sent off and eventually banned for life from the Chase Center.
It was quite the story and NBA fans on social media weren’t the only ones that followed the drama from afar, as Patrick Beverley apparently saw the Fake Klay story and thought to himself there was an opportunity to have some fun. So, on Wednesday, Beverley extended an invite for Daws to be his guest on the court at the first visit for the Warriors to Minnesota next year.
Ayo Fake Klay when the Timberwolves play Golden State next season, we need you on the Floor at Target Center gang
I’m not sure the league will be too thrilled by this, but it’s pretty funny. Beverley never misses an opportunity to be an instigator and that apparently includes conflicts involving arenas and fans.
A two dollar bill with Donald Trump’s earthquake-looking autograph will set you back $2,299.99 on eBay. If that’s not in your budget because you’ve spent all your money on a birthday card for the former-president, how about a signed first edition copy of Trump: How to Get Rich for $375? (Step one: don’t spend $375 on a signed first edition copy of Trump: How to Get Rich.) There’s also a Trump “re-elect that motherf*cker” hat with rocker / COVID denier Ted Nugent’s seal of approval on it for a budget conscious $26, which goes to show: Trump autograph don’t come cheap — unless you’re Matt Gaetz.
A recent Time article about how the “MAGA Squad,” led by far-right “grifters” Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), is “building power to control the next congress” by any (probably illegal) means necessary includes this interesting detail:
On the wall of the cramped congressional-office-turned-podcast studio, there’s a black-and-white poster for S.J. “Jerry” Gaetz, the congressman’s grandfather, that dubs him “North Dakota’s Most Progressive Mayor.” In a glass display case, there’s a handwritten note from President Trump, scribbled in Sharpie on an article about Gaetz defending himself against a federal sex-trafficking probe involving the transportation of a 17-year-old across state lines. “Matt, This is Great,” Trump wrote. “Keep fighting – You will WIN!”
Gaetz is the focus of an FBI sex trafficking investigation involving his alleged transportation of a 17-year-old girl across state lines to have sex with her. The article in question is from the Washington Examiner, Insiderreports, and concerns a “six-figure ad” that Gaetz’s congressional campaign paid for to defend the Republican against the accusations. “When you see the leaks, the lies, the falsehoods, the smears, when you see the anonymous sources and insiders forecasting my demise, know this: They aren’t really coming for me. They’re coming for you. I’m just in the way,” he says in the video.
If you want to bid on Trump’s squiggle, maybe send Gaetz a Venmo request?
Looks like Trump autographed an article on Matt Gaetz defending himself against ongoing sex trafficking investigation
Lil Wayne had one of the greatest runs Hip-Hop has ever seen that was unfortunately derailed by label issues and legal troubles. Fortunately for Weezy and his fans, he has found a way to rise above and achieve multiple career revivals when it comes to the music. Yet, once again, Lil Wayne’s past has caught up to him as the New Orleans rapper is being denied entry into the UK days before he is set to hit the Strawberries & Creem stage on June 18. This set would have been Wayne’s first performance in the Uk in 14 years.
The rapper, now replaced by Ludacris, was apparently denied entry by the Home Office in a “last-minute decision” according to event organizers. “We are deeply disappointed by this sudden and negative ruling,” Strawberries & Creem organizers wrote in a statement. “We have received very minimal notice, and the timing of the decision is of course upsetting for all involved.”
The Home Office elaborated on their ruling in a statement to Rolling Stone: “In a statement to Rolling Stone, a Home Office spokesperson said, “Any individual who has been sentenced to a custodial sentence of 12 months or more must have their application refused.” The statement is referring to Lil Wayne’s 12-month prison sentence for weapons charges stemming from his arrest in July 2007. Though Wayne was sentenced to a year, he was released after eight months due to good behavior.
Suge Knight hasn’t been the CEO of Death Row Records for a long time now. He’s currently serving a 28-year sentence for a 2015 hit-and-run in which he clipped Straight Outta Compton consultant Che “Bone” Sloan with his truck after a fight and ran over and killed Compton businessman Terry Carter. However, his reduced stature in the music business hasn’t stopped Carter’s family’s attorney from demanding $81 million in a wrongful death suit filed against Knight.
According to Rolling Stone, Lance Behringer, the lawyer pursuing the case for Knight’s family, said in court Tuesday that Knight owes Carter’s widow and daughters at least $1 million apiece for each year Carter could have been expected to live had he not been killed by Knight (three times 27 is how you get 81). Behringer is quoted saying, “Dying on the concrete floor alone at Tam’s Burgers was not a natural death. He was taken from these three women. Nobody’s comfortable talking about money, But that’s what we have to do.”
Knight pled no contest to voluntary manslaughter to avoid trial back in 2018, and to avoid having a guilty verdict used in the then-impending civil trial. Since his own plea could not be used as evidence, the trial had to rely on the evidence that would have been used during the criminal trial had it proceeded, which included security video taken from the Tam’s Burgers restaurant where the incident occurred. At the time, Suge maintained that he believed Carter and Sloan were making an attempt on his life after arguing and fighting with Sloan but in the course of explaining himself, he gave what could have been an incriminating answer.
“I was going straight,” he said. “I seen the guy in the front of my truck. I seen the guy in my mirror. I wanted to make sure to get this guy, and I did.” If he’s found liable for Carter’s death, whatever penalty is determined for him to pay the family will be just one he faces; in 2020, he was ordered to pay $107 million to former Death Row employees for pushing them out.
TikTok conspiracies sometimes make their way over to Twitter, but by then, whatever the rumor or theory was, it’s mostly debunked. But every once in a while, a quick viral video will slip through the cracks, leading everyone on Twitter to believe something ridiculous. This time, Zendaya was caught in the mix.
A new trend of TikTok is to post something fake then add Kris Jenner laughing at the end, saying ‘You’ve just been Krised!” as if it was the Rick Rolling of the 2020s. One post went off the rails, claiming that Zendaya and Spider-man co-star/ boyfriend Tom Holland were expecting a child, and Zendaya is not having it.
After noticing that she was trending on Twitter, the Euphoria actress took to her Instagram stories (via Page Six) to clear the air: “See now, this is why I stay off Twitter…Just making stuff up for no reason…weekly.” She ranted on her stories. The actress then shared a new photo of her on-set of her new tennis movie Challengers. We should all take Zendaya’s advice and stay off Twitter!
This isn’t the first time baby rumors have followed the couple: last year, Holland said he wants to be a dad and the internet exploded. Will people at least wait until the duo stops portraying high school kids before assuming they are parents!
A timeless traditions among NBA players in the offseason is when they absolutely ruin the hopes of dreams of an innocent kid trying to score on them at a basketball camp. Sometimes, they allow it to happen and the crowd explodes in excitement. Most of the time, though, the incredibly wide chasm between an aspiring youngster and a professional NBA player is hammered home.
On Tuesday, Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic emphasized that incredibly wide chasm when he hosted a 14-second block party against a bunch of different children.
Across six different occasions, the 7’4 big man absolutely erased someone’s shot, as if he barely gave it a second thought. Each instance, the ball barely leaves the shooter’s hands. One time, Marjanovic simply plucks it away from his opponent. Another rejection is so forceful that it brings a kid tumbling to the ground, upon which Marjanovic graciously helps them up.
He only jumps on one block. There is no hope for the children on any of their shots.
Many may point to the pluck as their favorite or the best, but a sneaky candidate is the second block of the montage. Someone tries to scoot one past Marjanovic before he’s ready, so he quickly elevates his arm and sends that sucker into a new stratosphere.
I empathize with these kids because I am rather confident my experiences would be disappointingly similar to theirs if I attempted any shot around him. But thankfully, I did not try anything and I’m left to cackle in the glory of those clips. What a delightful little video.
Great dark rum tends to be a lot cheaper than great bourbon or great scotch. That’s not to say there aren’t expensive rums on the shelf, it’s more that the incredibly wild whisk(e)y/spirits hype machine hasn’t quite hit the rum industry in the same way… yet. That means you can still get some very good, old, and well-built dark rums for a great price.
But do these excellent bang-for-the-buck sippers really stack up to the most outstanding bottles in the field?
To figure this out, I’m tasting four affordable-yet-refined dark rums against four that are going to cost you in the hundreds of dollars. This isn’t about the bottom shelf versus the top shelf. It’s more about the mid-range bottles that are in the $30-$70 range with big age statements and plenty of refinement against the stuff you’d likely break out for a holiday or big celebration when you want to impress your guests — bottles in the $150 to $500 price range.
I also tasted these double-blind. I have a shelf of cheaper rums and the good stuff already on two different shelves (with about 30 bottles on both). So my wife simply grabbed four at random from each, poured them, and let me dive in. I didn’t know anything else.
Our lineup ended up being as follows:
Santa Teresa 1796
Mount Gary Port Cask Finish
Bacardi 10
Equiano
Appleton Estate 30
Ron Abuelo XV Napoleon Cask
Flor de Cana 7
Diplomatico Single Vintage 2005
Let’s see if the mid-range dark rums can stand up to the big bottles.
Also Read: The Top Five UPROXX Rum Posts From The Past Six Months
What a nice nose! It’s full of fresh honey over fresh and red berries with a dusting of dark chocolate next to a hint of old molasses. The palate layers vanilla into the creamy honey as green and almost woody bananas lead to toasted coconut with a hint of wet cedar behind it all. The chocolate returns near the end and slightly bitters as a soft, tropical fruit vibe rounds things out.
This was nice. I have no idea what it is but set a nice precedent.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This has a distinct bourbon vanilla nose with a hint of buttery and rich caramel that gives way to a plum pudding meatiness and spice with a tiny echo of marzipan with rose water. The taste is a balance of bright red fruit next to moist and spicy slices of holiday cake with plenty of candied and dried fruit and a hint of walnut and black molasses. The finish has a dark chocolate-covered marzipan vibe that leads back to the candied fruits and spices of the holiday cake before an old cellar beam vibe takes over and everything slowly fades away.
This is so much more complex than the last sip. It’s clearly something bigger and bolder (and likely way more expensive). It’s also freaking delicious.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
A mild hint of dark and worn leather leads to a rush of ripe and funky tropical fruits that have been soaked in rum — “Hello, Bacardi!”
The palate confirms this assumption with a rich and buttery Bananas Foster vibe that leads to wet brown sugar, holiday spice mixes, and plenty of dried fruit with a thinness to it. The butteriness from the top of the palate turns creamy as the sip leans into old leather, dried cedar bark braids, and a hint of vanilla-cherry tobacco.
I’m guessing this is Bacardi 8 or 10. It’s really nice but a little thin.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Dark leather and dry cedar bark lead to a bruised peach swimming in dark molasses on the nose. The palate is classic with plenty of brown sugar and holiday spices with a hint of floral black tea next to toasted oak staves and a hint of dark cacao. The finish leans into the spice and tobacco sharpness with a focus on cloves and anise as the vanilla creeps into the cinnamon-laced tobacco leaves.
Not sure what this is but it’s a contender!
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Woah. Strike what I just said above. This is wild on the nose with coconut charcoal next to green plantains, creamy honey, a hint of banana leaf, and chili-chocolate tobacco stuffed into an old charred oak barrel. The palate is completely different with layers of singed pineapple skins next to black molasses dripping all over a stack of cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, and nutmeg with hints of sassafras, coconut shell, cedar bark, sweetgrass, and heavy-duty funk all making appearances. The end gets creamy smooth with plenty of spice, funky fermented tropical fruit, and leather tobacco pouches.
This is something way older and deeper.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Again, wow. This is like silk on the nose with a softly layered apple crumble with plenty of cinnamon and clove covered in butter-soaked brown sugar with a hint of vanilla oils, orange zest, and dry pine resin rounding out the nose. The palate is part rum-soaked raisins and part creamy yet floral honey with a throughline of tart apples and candied pears. The mid-palate shifts from a lush vanilla cream base toward old cedar boxes filled with milk chocolate tobacco leaves and old boot leather with a dash of dried lavender.
This is beautiful. Right now, it’s also the pour to beat.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
And we’re back. This is thin and tinny on the nose with hints of singed coconut shells next to some old dates and vanilla extract bottles. The palate has a honeyed vibe with a dash of dark chocolate that feels like additives more than flavor notes. The end is thin and has a touch of orange zest and almond next to spicy fruit.
I don’t know what this is but it’s a mixing rum at best.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Here we go. There’s a mix of sharp candied ginger next to a moist and rum-soaked Christmas cake brimming with candied nuts, dried red fruits, candied citrus, and tons of clove, allspice, nutmeg, and ground ginger with this slight whisper of funky old cellar beams. The taste amps the spiciness up but keeps the taste lush with orange oils, vanilla paste, marzipan, brandy-soaked plums, and maple syrup-soaked oak staves. The mid-palate lets all that sweetness shine before the end warms every so slightly toward those holiday spices while brandied plums attach to a chewy tobacco leaf with a hint of dirty cellar floor lurking underneath everything.
From my notes: “Well… that’s going to win. Done. Period.”
The Nicaraguan rum is a quality product at its price point. The juice — made from local cane grown in volcanic soil — is aged in fresh white oak barrels for seven years in the shadow of the San Cristóbal Volcano. The barrels are then batched and proofed down with volcanic soil-filtered spring water.
Bottom Line:
Yeah, this is definitely a mixing rum. So… I called it. Still, this was nowhere near the quality of the rest of the list.
This is Bacardi’s high-end expression that’s crazy cheap. The rum is aged for ten long years in lightly charred oak before its charcoal filtered and brought down to proof, creating an ultra-refined expression.
Bottom Line:
This had a slight bourbon vibe while feeling like a well-made rum all around. The middle was a little thin and that’s the only reason it faltered today. I think this is a pretty solid cocktail base though because you can fill in that thin-ish middle.
Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell masterminded this expression — combining African and Caribbean rum traditions. The bottle is created under the watchful eye of rum master Richard Seale, who blends rums from Mauritius and Barbados into a one-of-its-kind final product that feels like the future of rum in a bottle.
Bottom Line:
This, again, felt like a great cocktail rum. It’s perfectly fine as a sipper but felt like a foundation to build upon more than anything else today.
The Venezuelan rum is a blend of rums aged from four to 35 years in former Spanish sherry and brandy barrels. Those key barrels are hand-selected for their depth and then married into this masterful rum.
Bottom Line:
This was a great start but ultimately proved to be just … nice. I’d pour this over a rock or two and go about my day without thinking about it again.
This blend comes from the master of Jamaican rum, Master Blender Joy Spence. This release from 2018 blends rums that are at least 30 years old with some barrels north of 50 years old. Like all Appleton releases, the juice in the bottle is a cane-to-glass spirit with everything from the growing of the cane to the aging and blending happening in-house at Appleton.
Bottom Line:
I kind of knew this was an Appleton Estate thanks to all that funk. Still, this was a lot. I really loved the palate but you had to get past a funked-to-the-max nose to get to it.
This Panamain rum spends 14 years aging in bourbon casks. That juice is then refilled into old Napoleon Cognac casks for a final maturation before proofing and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This was hard to beat. It’s damn near perfect. Look, the top three are all splitting hairs. This was really good but about 0.5 percent less rounded than the next entry. See, splitting hairs.
Master Blender Trudiann Branker hit it out of the park with this Barbados rum. The expression is a blend of rum aged for five years in Tawny Port casks that’s married to 14-year-old rums aged in ex-bourbon casks. That blend is then transferred to fresh Tawny Port casks for a final year of resting/finishing. The rum is then bottled at cask strength with no fussing whatsoever.
Bottom Line:
Again, super splitting hairs with this at two instead of one. This is just straight-up delicious. The only reason it’s not first is that the next one was what I wanted a pour of immediately after this tasting.
This well-crafted expression is a marrying of Venezuelan rums aged in ex-bourbon and ex-single malt casks for up to 12 years. The rums are then hand-selected and hand-blended to find the perfect balance of taste and texture. The blend finally spends a year in sherry casks to give it that final note of ultra-refinement.
Bottom Line:
This was perfect. Deep. Engaging. Vivacious. Lush. This was a great end to this tasting.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Yeah, I’m not that surprised here. I know how to tell a cheaper pour from an expensive one because that’s… literally my job. My editor keeps thinking I’ll be fooled and it’s just not gonna happen when the quality spread is this noticeable. There’s a thinness to the cheaper stuff that you rarely find in the higher ends. You can feel the age, for sure. But that doesn’t mean as much in rum. What you can feel is the completeness, the silkiness, and the thought that went into the blend.
It’s just more … everything.
Still, what is interesting is that the most expensive was my “least” favorite of the spendy bottles. It came in fourth. The biggest reason was this it was too much of “more is more” without adding something deeper. It was really big funk and wood on top of a perfectly great rum. That can be nice, but it’s not as refined as the top three.
Rina Sawayama’s new single “This Hell” is about a month old now, and what a month it’s had: After releasing the song on mid-May, Sawayama performed it on The Tonight Show. Now, the song (which comes from the upcoming album Hold This Girl) gets a sleek new video today in which Sawayama gets married (seemingly in a three-way arrangement, given the post-“you-may-kiss-the-bride” lip-locking) before taking over a cowboy bar.
Sawayama says of making the video, “It was amazing to get back together with director Ali Kurr (‘XS’, ‘Bad Friend’) for the video for ‘This Hell.’ We always like to tell engaging stories through film together so this one was about love and community in the face of hatred and dissent.”
She also previously said of the song, “The past couple of years I’ve been listening to lots of female country singers and wanted to write a euphoric and tongue-in-cheek country-pop song. I’ve been dreaming of working with Paul Epworth my entire career so I knew it was meant to be when we finished this song in a day. I put in as many iconic pop culture moments as I can, but the song is more than that.”
Watch the “This Hell” video above.
Hold This Girl is out 9/2 via Dirty Hit. Pre-order it here.
La Dispute were already among the illustrious acts slated to play the punk- and emo-leaning nostalgiapalooza that is When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas this October. Now the Grand Rapids, Michigan post-hardcore quintet are wrapping an entire tour around the festival in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their album Wildlife.
The tour begins with a hometown show in Grand Rapids in September before the band takes off to the East Coast and then across the country to the West Coast. It’s a thorough slate of nearly 40 shows, including thee two-day appearance at When We Were Young Fest.
Speaking on the tour and Wildlife, singer Jordan Dryer shared some thoughts:
“I didn’t spend much time looking ahead in the first five or so years of this band, and didn’t anticipate spending much time looking back either, even as one ten year anniversary came and another one approached. But then the whole world shut down, and in its newly suspended animation we took the longest break we ever have from playing live, writing music together, even being in the same town. All we had was time to reflect on the past—on what makes this important to us. For the first time it made us look forward, to being back together in the same room, on the same stage, to the next night on tour, to celebrating milestones with the people who got us to them: each other, our extended family of friends, and you. Cheers to you for 10+ years of ‘Wildlife’, and for everything else.”
Check out the full list of tour dates below and get tickets starting on Friday, June 17th at 10 a.m. local time here.
09/15 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
09/16 — Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot
09/17 — Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
09/18 — Toronto, ONT @ Opera House
09/20 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
09/21 — New York, NY @ Warsaw
09/23 — Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall
09/24 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
09/25 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts (TLA)
09/26 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
09/27 — Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts
09/29 — Columbus, OH @ Skully’s
09/30 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/01 — Milwaukee, WI @ BackRoom @ Colectivo
10/02 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café
10/03 — Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
10/05 — Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theater
10/06 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
10/07 — Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
10/08 — Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
10/09 — Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
10/10 — Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
10/12 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
10/13 — Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone Berkeley
10/14 — Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s
10/15 — Ventura, CA @ Ventura Music Hall
10/16 — Los Angeles, CA @ 1720
10/18 — Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
10/19 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA
10/20 — Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater
10/21 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
10/22 — Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival
10/23 — Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival
10/25 — Dallas, TX @ Amplified Live
10/26 — Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10/27 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
10/28 — Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
10/29 — Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
10/30 — Gainesville, FL @ Fest
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
Since the last update of this weekly R&B column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists. SZA dropped the long-awaited deluxe version of her classic debut album Ctrl and 6lack covered Mos Def’s “Umi Says” as a part of Apple Music’s 2022 Freedom Songs series. Ryan Trey connected with Babyface Ray in the pursuit of love on “Only Us” while Mr Eazi proposes to his girlfriend in a video for his new “Legalize” record. Blxst also released a video for “Be Forreal.” Here are some more releases you should check out:
Capella Grey — “OT” Feat. Ty Dolla Sign
After spreading his name to the masses in 2021 behind the success of “Gyalis,” Capella Grey is ready to take things to the next level with his upcoming Vibe Responsibly, Vol. 1 project. The latest single from the project is “OT” (an abbreviation for “outta town) with Ty Dolla Sign, a jiggy and upbeat release that flexes their Rolodex of women around the country as well as their attempts to keep them far apart.
Muni Long — “Baby Boo” Feat. Saweetie
Muni Long’s resurgence in 2022 continues with the release of her latest single, “Baby Boo” with Saweetie. It’s a summer anthem that continues her trend of love-heavy records that dwell on the beauties of a well-constructed romance. “Baby Boo” also follows “Another” and “Pain” which she released earlier this year.
Shelley FKA DRAM —– “Chocolate Covered Strawberries”
It was just last year that Shelley (fka DRAM) underwent a name change and delivered his sophomore album Shelley FKA DRAM. A little over a year after that project arrived, Shelley is back with “Chocolate Covered Strawberries.” The sweet track continues the trend of tender records that were the foundation of Shelley FKA DRAM proving that Shelley’s next body of work will certainly be a great one.
Brandon Banks — Natural Progressions
Three years after he dazzled with Static, Inglewood singer Brandon Banks returns with his Natural Progressions project. It presents nine songs including the previously released “Wonderland,” “Tryin,” and “Get On.” Just like his previous projects Static and Tides, Banks’ newest body of work features excellent songwriting focused on the natural tendencies of life.
Dende — “Block Me”
Dende’s 2022 year is set to be a great one. After concluding 2021 with Pregnancy Pack, he kicked off the year with “Round Trip To Atlanta” and now he’s back with “Block Me.” On it, he’s forced to accept, despite his requests to be blocked, that a lover from a past relationship has moved on and found someone new
Drea Réal — Let Go
Colombian-born and Miami-bred singer Drea Réal has been pushing her name out to the masses for nearly a half-decade now. Her newly-released EP Let Go is her latest offering to the world and it strikes as a six-track effort that explores the art of impermanence. Throughout this soulful and stirring project, Réal details her healing process and how she broke from past relationships cycles t
Shah — Ambivalence
With loose singles that date back to 2017, many wondered when Kansas City, Missouri-born and Los Angeles-bred singer Shah would step out with their debut project. Finally, five years later, that moment has arrived with Ambivalence. Through six songs, Shah peels back the layers of their soul for a transparent and honest body of work that was initially teased with “Honest” and “Change Your Mind.”
Josh Levi — Disc Two
Two years after dropping Disc One, Josh Levi is back with Disc Two. The eight-song project also includes a guest appearance from Normani. Their remix of “Don’t They” is one of the many highlights of Disc Two, a project that Levi described as a “coming-of-age moment for myself” during a RatedRNB interview.
Imani Williams — “F*ck Alone”
Love can be a beautiful thing, especially in its earliest stages when both parties are head over heels for each other. However, as singer Imani Williams notes on her new single “F*ck Alone,” it’s this feeling that makes things more painful when it all crashes and burns. “F*ck Alone” is an emotional record directed at her former lover as she seeks their reason for interrupting her peaceful life.
Tash — “New Thing”
Singer Tash, who was born in Sydney, Australia and now resides in Los Angeles, has been treating her fans well in 2022 so far. She’s released three singles so far this year with “Complacent,” “Happens All The Time,” and “London Boy,” and now that number jumps to four with the arrival of “New Thing.” The relaxing record touches on the new things that come with love, both for the individuals and the relationship as a whole
Moonga K. — “My Mind”
Moonga K. concluded 2021 with the release of his Candid EP, a project that he said during an Apple Music interview was “about the urgency to be who I am.” There’s no telling what Moonga might have in store for us next, but the journey towards that continues with “My Mind.” He uses the record to declare his freedom from a past lover who no longer serves him well.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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