Month: August 2022

There’s nothing like a summertime record that fuses that sun’s rays with a classic sample. Tyga, Jhene Aiko and the late Pop Smoke link up for “Sunshine,” which samples Lil’ Flip and Lea’s record of the same name. Aiko handles the hook while Tyga and Pop bring the affectionate raps in their own special way. They do the sample justice with their modern take on a classic record.

“Sunshine” follows a slew of Tyga singles in 2022, namely “Freaky Deaky” with Doja Cat, “Lifetime,” “Sheikh Talk,” and “Run” alongside YG, 21 Savage, and BIA. Tyga also released “Ay Caramba” this year and caught flack from the Mexican-American community for what they deemed racist depictions of their culture. The “Rack City” rapper has since apologized and clarified he did mean any harm.

This is the first time these three have collaborated as a trio, though Tyga and Pop Smoke previously worked on “West Coast Sh*t” from Pop Smoke’s 2020 album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon. The Brooklyn drill rapper followed up the previous year with Faith, meanwhile, Aiko has been on a hiatus of sorts since her Grammy-nominated 2020 album Chilombo. In the interim, she uploaded her classic mixtape Sailing Soul(s) to DSPs in March of 2021.

Check out “Sunshine” above.

Though the club often reveals many attendees’ primal nature in the pursuit of a night of passion, there are often those experiences where two people lock eyes and not a word needs to be said. Ali Gatie and Kehlani display this reality vividly in their video for “The Look.”

Gatie opens the track sitting down on a couch while a woman caresses his shoulders. She ultimately gets up and he soon follows before Kehlani enters the venue. As they reveal their contracted pupils, suddenly every person dancing in the club gains similar eye colors as well, conveying the often animalistic nature of clubgoers in the night.

Kehlani makes their way over to the bar, gets a drink in hand, and encourages whoever is interested in them to “shoot their shot” before the video closes with Gatie and Kehlani locking eyes. Though Kehlani’s pupils are still small, Gatie’s are fully dilated behind his black shades as he has spotted who he wants.

“The Look” arrives as part of Ali Gatie’s new album Who Hurt You? led by the singles “Can’t Give Up,” “Perfect,” and “Crying In The Rain.” Besides Kehlani, the only other feature is Max. This 17-track LP comes almost a year and a half after his 2021 project The Idea Of Her.

Check out “The Look” video above.

Who Hurt You? is out now via LISN. Listen to it here.

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

Ahead of their upcoming album, Asphalt Meadows, Death Cab For Cutie has shared a transcendent new song. On “Foxglove In The Clearcut,” lead vocalist Ben Gibbard delivers poignant, haunting spoken-word poetry over a meditative track, that opens with a dreamy harp. As the song progresses, drums and guitars kick in, creating a sense of pure emotion.

The song tells the story of a man questioning his existence at various points in his life.

“’Foxglove’ is by far the most personal song on the record,” said Gibbard in a statement. “While I was writing it, I thought I was merely the narrator. But the longer I sat with it, I realized I was both the protagonist AND the narrator.”

In a recent interview with Audacy, Gibbard revealed that the band opted for a “Round Robin” style of songwriting and collaborating for the album.

“We would choose an order… pick a piece of music, and then each member would have 24 hours to add their own ideas,” he said. “No one would hear it, and the rule was once you had the music in front of you, you had complete creative control over it. You could do whatever you wanted to it. If it was like a samba and you wanted to make it into a hardcore song, you could do it. The person who initiated this sort of chain letter on Monday would only hear what the song sounded like on Friday because we weren’t giving progress reports. No one was allowed to listen to it until Friday.”

Check out “Foxglove In The Clearcut” above.

Asphalt Meadows is out 9/16 via Atlantic Records. Pre-save it here.

Death Cab For Cutie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

At long last, Nicki Minaj is back with new music. Over the past month, she has teased her Rick James-sampling track, “Super Freaky Girl,” and now, the song is finally here.

The song is far from SFW, but features Minaj reiterating her status as a rap icon, as well as a symbol of sexual liberation.

“I can lick it, I can ride it while you slippin’ and slidin’/ I can do all them little tricks and keep the d*ck up inside it / You can smack it, you can grip it, you can go down and kiss it / And every time he leave me alone he always tell me he miss it,” she raps over a track sampling “Super Freak,” by James. And these are probably the tamest lyrics of the song.

August is gearing up to be a big month for Minaj. In addition to new music, this month will also see Minaj receiving the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, August 28.

“Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip-hop with her versatility and creative artistry,” said Bruce Gillmer, chief content officer of music at Paramount+ and president of music, music talent, programming and events at Paramount, in a statement. “She has shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki’.”

Check out “Super Freaky Girl” above.

For decades, Harry Caray served as a legendary voice in the baseball world, calling games for multiple teams and finishing his historic career with a 16-year tenure showcasing the Chicago Cubs. Caray’s one-of-a-kind style is memorable for any who came into contact with his stylings, and his son (Skip) and grandson (Chip) also became mainstays calling Atlanta Braves games to fans across the Southeast and the country. On Thursday, the folks behind MLB’s Field of Dreams game decided to highlight Caray’s work to a modern audience but, rather than playing previous film of Caray putting together a famous rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, another idea came to the forefront.

In short, the FOX broadcast captured a hologram of Caray, who passed away in 1998, leading the song.

Reactions could generously be described as mixed to this particular idea. For obvious reasons, the execution wasn’t exactly seamless, and it was a bit odd and rigid in an overall sense. There were some people who enjoyed it (and the in-person crowd seemed to be into it), while plenty of others had jokes and general objections to the entire concept.

All told, the Field of Dreams game certainly will receive some extra attention for this decision, and perhaps that was part of the calculus. Still, it is interesting to consider what the motivation might’ve been behind the development of this technology and whether it was necessary.

Earlier today (August 11), the eclectic Antonio Brown shared a statement on Twitter revealing that his biggest regret is the fact he was not able to see himself play football live. The wide-receiver-turned-rapper has a knack for getting social media into a frenzy, and this was no different as he likened the viewing experience to “watching the Beatles or Jesus perform at Red Rocks.” Hilariously, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater had the perfect response for the NFL free agent.

In a quote tweet, the official Red Rocks Twitter account chimed in and said “That Jesus set was *fire emoji*.” Of course, that did not actually happen but Red Rocks leaning into the joke makes this experience all the more entertaining. Though, it may not be able to compete with AB’s recent set at Rolling Loud Miami which went viral due to his finger-point-heavy dancing to the tune of his record “Put That Sh*t On.”

Antonio Brown loves the spotlight and does a great job commanding it, though his methods can be controversial. Whether he is catching touchdowns for an NFL team next season, buying the Denver Broncos, or gracing future stages with his dance moves, this is surely not the last time we will hear from the enigma.

Check out the exchange between Antonio Brown and Red Rocks above.

Anitta and Maluma have just dropped a steamy new video. In “El Que Espera,” the two international music superstars appear on the set of a film production. When the cameras are rolling, the two seem to be happy, passionate lovers, but when they’re off, the arguments ensue.

This year has been an exciting year for Anitta, as the Brazilian superstar dropped her much-anticipated album, Versions Of Me, performed at Coachella, and made an appearance at the Met Gala. But no matter how quickly her star is rising, she promises to always be a source of inspiration to her home country, Brazil.

“When we get fame, we can get lost in this game and forget who we are,” she said in recent interview with Interview. “Why did I start this whole thing? Why am I doing this? For me, it was never about getting famous and rich. It was about changing my people’s lives, my country’s life. So if I’m going to the Met Gala or Coachella or the VMAs, it’s not because I want to show off. It’s because I want my country to believe that they can go to places that they’ve never been.”

Check out “El Que Espera” above.

Anitta is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As seen from all of the movie remakes, television show reboots, and older fashions coming back in style, there is nothing people love more than reveling in nostalgia. Though some efforts are half-hearted and fall short, DJ Premier, Remy Ma, and Rapsody hit the mark in the new “Remy Rap” video.

As Preemo spins on the 1’s and 2’s, Remy Ma dons a thigh-length, long sleeve New York Rangers jersey and boasts about her place in rap amongst the women. She even addresses the allegations of having a ghostwriter with “Every time I spit some sh*t, they saying that it’s really Pap” before the camera pans to her husband Papoose and recalls her hits “Lean Back,” “Conceited,” and “All The Way Up.”

The transition to Rapsody’s verse finds her behind the camera doing a photoshoot for Remy before getting her bars off. Rapsody refers to life as a curvy woman and deems herself her biggest fan, in addition to separating herself from the pack with “Wah wah, y’all cry, I’m on a different tier / We ain’t the same, me and you got some different fears.”

This lyrical exhibition is the first visual offering from DJ Premier’s recent EP Hip Hop 50 Volume 1, which also features Lil Wayne, Slick Rick, Joey Badass, Nas, and Run The Jewels. The forthcoming volumes within the 10-part EP series will include production efforts from Mustard, Swizz Beats, Hit-Boy, No I.D., and multiple other musical powerhouses.

Check out the video for “Remy Rap” above.

Blackstarkids are throwing it back to the aughts on their upcoming album. Today, the band has announced Cyberkiss, which is set to arrive this fall, and take inspiration from artists like N.E.R.D., Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, and Outkast.

Ahead of the album, the band has dropped a new single called “Sex Appeal,” on which the group members channel the futuristic stylings of the icons who came before them, while exuding a fresh confidence and bringing a welcome, much-needed eccentricity back to music. “Don’t talk to me unless you’ve got sex appeal,” says the group, over a track reminiscent of early Pharrell beats.

“This song is a homage to 2000s Neptunes, Timbaland, and Missy,” said Blackstarkids in a statement. “As well as, lyrically, a homage to Jay Z. ‘Light Your Ass On Fire’ from Clones was a big inspiration on this track, and we wanted to have a song that felt fun and confident.”

Check out “Sex Appeal” above and the Cyberkiss album artwork below.

1. “How To Self-Destruct”
2. “Sex Appeal”
3. “Pink Starz”
4. “Joy”
5. “Reject Media”
6. “Cyberkiss 2 You” Feat. Beabadoobee
7. “NuYork V2”
8. “Boycott”
9. “Star-Crossed Kiwi Fusion”
10. “Do The Right Thing”
11. “Keep Me Around”
12. “Digital World”
13. “Express Yourself”
14. “Peach Cobbler”
15. “Cardigan”
16. “1-800-BLACKSTARKIDS”
17. “Peace + Love”

Cyberkiss is out 9/23 via Dirty Hit. Pre-save it here.

Last month, Cordae tweeted about how after a four-hour road trip it dawned on him that his debut album The Lost Boy is better than the follow-up From A Birds Eye View. He closed the post with “My bad y’all. Ima do better next time. I got sumn to prove.” Today (August 11) he released his first steps toward redemption in the two new singles “Unacceptable” and “So With That.”

A known talented lyricist, the 24-year-old flexed his ability to craft two unique listening experiences. “Unacceptable,” produced by ATL Jacob and Hendrix Smoke, is earnest ear candy for modern-day music listeners with a mid-tempo trap feel. “So With That” sounds like he took a road trip to the past, with a backpack rap-type beat laced with high-pitched vocal samples.

The accompanying video finds the “RNP” rapper riding in the car with a woman before later sitting on a couch rapping while she yells at him. Surely Cordae hopes that the fan reception to these records is the inverse of her ferocity as he works toward his next project.

These records come over almost seven months after From A Birds Eye View, which featured Lil Wayne, Lil Durk, HER, Gunna, and Stevie Wonder. He also turned the album into a full, live visual production.

Check out the video for “So With That” above and listen to “Unacceptable” here.

Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.