Month: June 2022

Hip-hop fans have been through a lot in the last few years. There hasn’t been a single year in the past half-decade that hasn’t seen the death of one of rap’s most prominent rising stars. In 2019, Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed in front of his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles. Later that same year, Juice WRLD overdosed coming off a flight at Midway International Airport in Chicago. More recently, Drakeo The Ruler was stabbed to death backstage during Once Upon A Time in LA Festival, and Lil Keed died of apparent kidney failure earlier this year.

Last night, during his set at Something In The Water Festival, Compton rapper Roddy Ricch paid homage to these artists and more with a tender performance of his breakout hit “Die Young.” Images of his fallen peers and contemporaries flashed behind him as he crooned the all-too-fitting lyrics of his song’s chorus: “Tell me, why the legends always gotta die quick?”

Roddy was at least partly associated with many of the rappers to whom he paid homage Friday night; he won a Grammy with Nipsey Hussle for their song “Racks In The Middle,” while Keed was a member of YSL Records, a frequent Roddy collaborator via Gunna and Young Thug. Roddy shouted out Gunna on Instagram, calling for his release from Fulton County jail as he awaits trial on racketeering charges with the rest of the YSL crew.

Watch Roddy’s tender performance of “Die Young” above.

In the last year-and-a-half, a large number of people have been arrested for invading the Capitol building. (Others have simply forfeited a large chunk of their salary for not complying with other rules.) To that list, add a most surprising figure: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

On Thursday, as per The Hollywood Reporter, a number of people working for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were detained by U.S. Capitol police while filming a skit. Among them was Robert Smigel, the writer and performer who since 1997 has been the voice and puppeteer behind Triumph, the cigar-chomping Yugoslavian Mountain Hound-Rottweiler who trades almost exclusively in insult comedy.

A CBS spokesperson told THR that Smigel and crew had been on the Capitol premises on Wednesday and Thursday, collecting interviews for Colbert’s show, presumably pertaining to the ongoing Jan. 6 committee hearings. (Triumph spent much of his career on various Conan O’Brien programs.) The team had arranged a number of meetings, but on Thursday wound up staying late — too late, after the building was closed to visitors. They were approached by officers, and — unescorted and without Capitol IDs — they were arrested and charged with unlawful entry.

It’s a serious crime, and the seven arrested, Smigel included, may face additional criminal charges.

Smigel has long made Triumph a fixture of politics, covering presidential elections going back to 2004 and ramping it up in the Trump era. He’s even insulted Ted Cruz to his face — but the Texas senator seems to be used to people, and dog puppets, pointing out his flaws.

(Via THR)

On the heels of Drake’s new surprise release album, Honestly, Nevermind, fans are suspecting the reason Joey Badass pushed back his album, 2000, is so he wouldn’t be in direct competition with Drake.

This past Thursday, before Drake had even announced the album, Joey took to Twitter to explain that 2000 wouldn’t be released this week, as originally planned.

“Man I got some terrible news,” he said. “my album won’t be coming out tonight due to sample clearance issues. Right now, it’s unclear how long I’ll have to postpone it but my hope is no more than 2 weeks. I wanted to have a new date before I told you guys but it’s out of my control.”

He continued, saying, “I’ll keep you guys updated obviously, I’m almost certain I’ll have a new date by Monday.”

Following the announcement of Honestly, Nevermind, fans theorized that this may have been a cover-up to hide the fact that he pushed it back as not to compete with Drake. Joey has since taken to Twitter to deny these rumors, saying, “Y’all thinking I pushed my album back because drake is comedy. Can’t say I ain’t happy tho hahaha.”

He later showed praise for the album, saying, “I f*x with this new drake tho.”

Had 2000 come out as originally planned, it would’ve coincided with the 10th anniversary of Joey’s breakthrough mixtape, 1999. As of now, there is no confirmed release date for 2000.

Ahead of his upcoming album Montega, produced by Harry Fraud, French Montana has dropped a new video for “Blue Chills.” In the video, Montana is seen in various parts of New York City, including rapping from a rooftop and grabbing bites at a bodega.

Lyrically, the song features Montana addressing his haters and critics, some of which seem to come from within his own circle.

“The grеatest threat is always from the inside / Yessir, they put staples in my head, b*tch, they been tried / Killers wanna bag me or come see me in that dayroom / Shorty wanna rag me and throw me up on Shade Room,” he raps over the Fraud-produced track.

Fraud has worked with Montana on various projects since his mixtape days in the late aughts and early 2010s. In a recent interview with Connected With Wayno, Montana recalled his mixtape days pleasantly, however, he says the songs fans prefer aren’t what he considers his best work.

“Some people, when I dimmed it down, I sold more records,” he said, “and I’m competing in a numbers game. If I could put up numbers, why wouldn’t I put numbers, and I can still do the rap.”

Check out Blue Chills above.

Montega is out 6/24 via Coke Boys. Pre-order it here.

Quality Control’s new signee Lakeyah is ready to take the summer by storm. On her new, scorching single, “Record Straight,” Lakeyah asserts control. She knows she’s bossy, and wears that label with pride, not taking any sort of BS from any man.

“Let me set the record straight / I’m a young fine b*tch, but I’m a heavy weight / Know we shuttin’ down the function when we celebrate / And these diamonds on me shinin’ ball like Kevin Gates,” she raps.

In the song’s accompanying music video, she is dressed in two-piece suit and high-top stilleto boots. She arrives at a construction site and hands out orders to the men working.

“Record Straight” comes from Lakeyah’s new EP, No Pressure, Part One, which dropped today. When speaking of her project in an interview with Popsugar, she said. “It’s so much growth in the music, I stepped out of my comfort zone for sure, as everybody can see …I wanted to work with a lot of different and big producers, creative people, and you can hear the confidence in my music.”

Check out “Record Straight” above.

No Pressure, Part One is out now via Quality Control and Motown. Listen to it here.

Ahead of his upcoming album, Memo, Kota The Friend has dropped a new single called “Father’s Day,” just in time for the holiday. On the new song, Kota shouts out the fellow single fathers and raps about his love for his son.

“Every day gon’ have its bad moments,” Kota raps on the track, “And every day he gon’ be mad when I make him have his nap /He gon’ teach me how to dab / I’ma teach him how to rap / We just learning as we go / and we going with the flow.”

The song’s accompanying video shows several adorable clips of Kota spending time with his son.

In regards to Memo, fans can expect Kota to share moments equally as intimate and relatable throughout the album.

“My goal is to create an incredible body of work,” said Kota in a statement. “My life experiences are real and are the life experiences of hundreds of thousands, and in some cases even millions of people around the world. These experiences are not unique to me, but I have the unique opportunity to put these experiences into my music in a way that we can all relate. I want to say Happy Father’s Day to all fathers who are there for their kids, but who are still vilified and unappreciated. This song is for you.”

Check out “Father’s Day” above.

Memo is currently slated for release in July.

After a rough two years for Rexx Life Raj, the Berkley native singer and rapper has announced his fifth studio album The Blue Hour. Ahead of its release, Rexx has shared a new single and video for his song, “Save Yourself.”

On the new track, he calls for the listener to fight for themselves, as they only have themselves in the end. “Ain’t nobody gonna come save you,” he sings. “You’ve gotta save yourself.” In the accompanying visual, he is seen in his home, finding solace in his own company. He is later seen outside on a race track, joined by a crew of friends.

Ahead of “Save Yourself,” Rexx released a song called “Balance,” on which he sings of the loss of his parents. The Blue Hour will detail Rexx’s healing process over the events that have taken place over the past nearly two years.

“This album is about transition,” said Raj in a statement. “This album is about grief. This album is about experiencing every emotion and not running from them. This past year and a half have been so insane that I could make another 20 albums about it. From losing my parents, to moving out of places I grew up in and made me who I am, all while trying to maintain some type of balance and sanity. I tried to be as honest and intentional with this project as possible. Creating it helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I pray it does the same for someone else.”

Check out “Save Yourself” above and the album artwork below.

The Blue Hour is out 7/15 via EMPIRE. Pre-order it here.

If you’re looking for a reminder of the good in people, we’ve got some sweet evidence for you.

Madison Mealy and her husband Blake recently moved to a rural area in the Blue Ridge Mountains and are new to country living. Mealy shared a video on TikTok showing her husband mowing the lawn with their baby in a backpack.

Cute, right? The only problem is they have a humongous lawn and her husband was mowing it with the teeniest push mower.

To be fair, if you’ve never had a big lawn, you may not realize how long it takes to mow and that not all lawn mowers are created equal. (They make riding lawn mowers for a reason, and it’s not because of laziness.)

Mealy shared her amusement at having sent her husband out to buy a mower and seeing him come back with the tiny mower. It was going to take him hours to mow their grass.

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But after she took a shower and went back to check on his progress, what she found was so heartwarming.

Not one, not two, but several strangers—presumably neighbors—had seen Blake trying to tackle their acreage with a subpar mower, and they showed up to help.

“We don’t know any of these people,” Mealy wrote.

Watch:

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“Reminder: there’s a lot of good left in this world,” wrote Mealy.

It’s true. Helping without being asked. Showing up when you see a need. Taking a burden off of someone’s back without expecting anything in return. There are instances of pure human kindness like this all around us, every day, even if they’re not right in front of our faces.

We have plenty of viral examples of people at their worst, so it’s important that we share humanity at its best. And if you’re tempted to think that the former is the norm while goodness is the exception, don’t. Studies show that most people are honest, generous and helpful.

As Mealy said, “People are so good.” We just need beautiful reminders like this on occasion.

Thanks for providing one of those reminders, Mealy family. (Now go get yourselves a proper mower.)

Officers at the Cambridge Police Department in Massachusetts had a surprise rescue mission on their hands when they happened upon two adorable baby skunks.

Catching a whiff of cuteness yet?

Giphy

The two tiny kits (like, you-could-fit-each-in-one-hand kind of tiny) had somehow gotten separated from their family. In an interview with The Dodo, Officer Caitlin Russell shared she had been heading back toward her patrol car after an unrelated incident when she saw the orphaned pair, clearly lost.

Russell was initially worried that she might get sprayed. Rightfully so, as skunks can spray as young as 3 weeks old … and let’s just say their control doesn’t automatically kick in. But still, her empathy was already triggered, and outweighed her fear.

“I saw they were alone. I couldn’t walk away,” Russell told The Dodo.

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Russell’s instincts were correct—skunk kits are especially defenseless without their mother. Born both blind and deaf, they are completely reliant on Mama Skunk until they are about 3 weeks old. Though these little guys had their eyes open, they were still clearly in need of help.

And I mean, who could just abandon these sweet faces?

Any worry Russell had soon dissipated as she picked up the skunk babes, who were “totally fine” with her holding them. Not to mention “so stinkin’ cute,” she added.

Russell and another officer (whose name has yet to be released) kept the skunklings safe while they awaited Animal Control.

In a plot twist worthy of a Hallmark movie, Animal Control had rescued two other orphaned skunks earlier the same day, thought to be from the same litter. The family was reunited at a wildlife rehab facility and eventually will be released into the wild as one big happy, stinky unit. Yay.

The Cambridge Police Department shared the story in a Facebook post along with the caption, “You never know who you’ll come across while working a shift.”

Though skunks traditionally have somewhat unsavory reputations, that mindset is slowly starting to change. Nowadays skunks are less seen as pests and more so viewed as valuable lawnkeepers by preying on rodents (confession: I was today years old when I learned that skunks aren’t herbivores).

More and more people even enjoy them as pets. According to PBS, 17 states currently allow people to own domesticated skunks, including: Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. PBS added that these pet skunks have undergone a controversial surgical procedure to remove their scent glands, which has been criticized by many as unfair treatment. Sort of like how declawing your cat strips it of its natural defenses. This can be particularly dangerous if Mr. Not-So-Stinky finds his way outdoors.

Still, it’s a good thing that these fetid creatures are getting more love. They definitely deserve it. At Upworthy, we are always on the lookout for feel-good, heartwarming animal stories. This one simply reeks of it.

After a rough two years for Rexx Life Raj, the Berkley native singer and rapper has announced his fifth studio album The Blue Hour. Ahead of its release, Rexx has shared a new single and video for his song, “Save Yourself.”

On the new track, he calls for the listener to fight for themselves, as they only have themselves in the end. “Ain’t nobody gonna come save you,” he sings. “You’ve gotta save yourself.” In the accompanying visual, he is seen in his home, finding solace in his own company. He is later seen outside on a race track, joined by a crew of friends.

Ahead of “Save Yourself,” Rexx released a song called “Balance,” on which he sings of the loss of his parents. The Blue Hour will detail Rexx’s healing process over the events that have taken place over the past nearly two years.

“This album is about transition,” said Raj in a statement. “This album is about grief. This album is about experiencing every emotion and not running from them. This past year and a half have been so insane that I could make another 20 albums about it. From losing my parents, to moving out of places I grew up in and made me who I am, all while trying to maintain some type of balance and sanity. I tried to be as honest and intentional with this project as possible. Creating it helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I pray it does the same for someone else.”

Check out “Save Yourself” above and the album artwork below.

The Blue Hour is out 7/15 via EMPIRE. Pre-order it here.