Month: July 2024

On the surface, MGK and Jelly Roll seem like either the unlikeliest duo ever to collaborate or one that makes perfect sense. Both are former rappers turned crossover stars, with Machine Gun Kelly delving into pop-punk and rock on his last handful of releases. Meanwhile, Jelly Roll maintained a solid if not exactly earth-shattering presence on the Tennessee underground before becoming a huge mainstream star with his switch to country.

MGK appears to be following him into that genre, and what better way to bridge that gap than to team up on “Lonely Road” — while channeling folk rock icon John Denver at the same time? “Lonely Road” interpolates Denver’s 1971 staple “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” turning it into a broken-hearted ballad about their respective struggles with self-destruction and loathing.

In the cinematic music video for the song, the duo run a failing auto shop, with MGK turning to a bank heist to dig them out of a hole and self-declared “worst criminal ever” Jelly Roll declining. Although he goes down for his crimes, he does manage to hide the money safely, allowing his partner to solve their money problems. Both artists’ wives, Megan Fox and Bunnie Xo, make appearances as their characters’ significant others.

You can watch the “Kelly Roll” video for “Lonely Road” above.

You’d be forgiven for being unaware of 19-year-old Dallas rapper Ian. There’s an understandable generational disconnect when it comes to Gen Z and Alpha’s internet rap heroes. But look… it might be time to get familiar. Especially as he’s received the co-sign of Lil Yachty, the original point of generational divide between young millennials and their Gen X predecessors.

After bringing the buzzy teen artist out during his set to perform his breakout song “Magic Johnson” at Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash last month, he doubled down on his support with “Hate Me,” a defiant new single that gives the young rapper plenty of space to show off his lyrical talents. The song is accompanied by a glitchy music video directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s AMD for a simple, yet effective platform for both rappers to boast and slag off their enemies.

So, who is Ian?

A SoundCloud producer turned rapper, Ian released his debut mixtape, Valedictorian, in May. Featuring a cover referencing the You Know I Had to Do It to Em meme hinting at a tongue-in-cheek posture (think a young Jack Harlow, but more ironic), the tape displayed a young talent very similar to rule-breaking predecessors like Yachty. A laughably bad review on Pitchfork probably did him more good than harm, especially as videos for “Magic Johnson” and “Figure It Out” (also a Lyrical Lemonade production) blew up on YouTube. With Lil Yachty’s backing, we’re likely to see a lot more of Ian in the future.

You can watch the video for “Hate Me” above.

Ice Spice‘s debut album, Y2K!, has arrived, bringing with it a new song featuring Travis Scott. On “Oh Sh…” the Bronx native boasts her head-turning abilities, bragging that she elicits the titular exclamation when doing things such as “throwin’ the knot,” “doin’ her dance,” “countin’ her bands,” and, of course, “showin’ her thong.” Meanwhile, Travis shoots his shot, hoping that his new boo doesn’t trade up for a ballplayer.

Y2K! arrives after a seven-month rollout that included the releases of singles “Think U The Sh*t (Fart),” “Gimmie A Light,” and “Phat Butt.” There were some bumps in the road, though; namely, a short-lived feud with Latto that appears to have ended up being more beneficial to the “Sunday Service” rapper, and a lukewarm reception to the album’s artwork.

However, what wasn’t lukewarm was Ice’s media promo tour; her foray onto Hot Ones found her unable to keep her cool or handle the spice, dropping her into the show’s Hall Of Shame. Fortunately, she’ll have plenty of chances to redeem herself on her upcoming concert tour with Cash Cobain; you can find the dates for that here.

You can listen to Ice Spice’s “Oh Sh…” featuring Travis Scott above.

Y2K! is out now via 10K Projects/Capitol Records. You can find more info here.

Will Smith’s last album, Lost And Found, was released nearly 20 years ago. Since then, the former Fresh Prince has seen his fortunes both rise and fall thanks to a filmography that includes its fair share of duds among the hits, and one recent “hit” in particular that turned a sizable portion of the population against him.

However, it seems that all this has given him the urge to return to what made him a star in the first place: Rap. Last month, he performed a new song at the BET Awards, and today, he returns again with “Work Of Art.”

Featuring Uproxx cover star Russ and Will’s son Jaden, the new song hits the same vein as his BET Awards song “Bulletproof,” in that it has an uplifting message, with Smith comparing his struggles to those of historical figures like Jesus and manifesting ultimate victory in the face of his adversities as Jaden offers a nice father-son moment, singing the chorus.

Russ offers his own take on the positive programming — this stuff is right up his alley — admonishing listeners, “Just know that you’re looking right into a mirror when you judge me.” With Will’s fifth album peeking over the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see if this sort of material endears him to fans who remember him from his Big Willie days — or those who don’t remember him as a musician at all.

You can listen to “Work Of Art” by Will Smith featuring Russ and Jaden above.

Not content with simply dominating the pop culture landscape, Post Malone has apparently decided he wants to be a country star. His next album, F-1 Trillion finds the former “White Iverson” teaming up with country music mainstays like Morgan Wallen (“I Had Some Help“) and Blake Shelton (“Pour Me A Drink“), as well as crooning his way through genre staples, like “Yours,” a heartfelt ode to his daughter.

Earlier this month, he teased his next country collab, “Guy For That” with Luke Combs, on Twitter, and tonight, the track officially arrived. A hard-drivin’, honky-tonk rocker, “Guy For That” finds the two singers lamenting a worn-out relationship through the genre-favorite lens of a broken-down old car in need of some fixin’ up. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have “a guy for that,” so it sounds like they need to do the work themselves — or let it go. Comparing a lover to an automobile is a time-honored country tradition, but not likely to help them out of the doghouse.

In addition to the above-mentioned country stars, F-1 Trillion will also feature an appearance from Chris Stapleton, as Posty teased in June with a snippet of their upcoming collab. In September, Post will take his twang on the road with the F-1 Trillion Tour, starting in September and running through October.

Listen to “Guy For That” below.

F-1 Trillion is out 8/16 via Republic. Find more information here.

Drake, the man, may be lying low in the wake of his rough treatment at the hands of Kendrick Lamar, but his collaborators aren’t letting his exile keep them from releasing new music featuring Drake, the rapper. Drake and longtime collaborator Gordo (formerly known as DJ Carnage) reunite for “Sideways,” a collaboration from the latter’s new album, Diamante.

According to the producer in a new interview with People, Gordo’s Honestly, Nevermind collaborator is “past” the noisemaking feud, saying, “Ever since all this has happened… I’ve seen him happier. It’s really weird. He’s pretty jolly… The internet makes it seem like, ‘Oh, that photo, he’s all sad and s—.’ That’s just a bad photo from a bad camera. But because it’s him, it’s put under a magnifying glass like, ‘Oh, look at his eyes. He’s looking a little droopy. He hasn’t slept.’ But the guy’s been happy as s—, to be honest. He’s chilling.”

Diamante (titled after Gordo’s real first name) has a wide array of artists from across musical genres, including Fuerza Regida, Larry June, Leon Bridges, Maluma, T-Pain, and Young Dolph. Gordo says that if fans enjoyed Honestly, Nevermind, the new album will be right up their alley.

You can listen to Gordo’s “Sideways” featuring Drake below.

Diamante is due on 7/26 on Ultra Records. You can find more info here.

A wholesome story from New Jersey shows what can happen when employees and shoppers drop their roles and act like people. It all started when Jeff Greene of Wayne, New Jersey, was checking out the deserts at his local Trader Joe’s with his family on July 6.

During his search, he asked an employee named Tara if the Key lime pie was any good. “Tara, who was putting out other desserts said it was her favorite dessert in Trader Joe’s, and I said, ‘Well, I make a pretty good one, too. But let’s try this one,’” he said in a viral TikTok video.

Jeff took Tara’s advice and put the pie in his shopping cart. But when he went to check out, Tara intervened. “She handed me a box of key lime pie with a receipt taped to the top,” he told People. “She had bought me a key lime pie herself and took the one I was about to purchase out of my cart. It was such a lovely and unexpected gesture.”

A week later, Jeff decided to repay the kind gesture. “My wife and I were kind of just hanging out, and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s make the pie,’” Jeff told Today.com.

@sophiegreene__

Some wholesome sunday content & pie. We love @Trader Joe’s @trader joes & Tara !! #wholesomemoments #traderjoesmusthaves #dadsbelike #parentsbelike

In the video, Jeff’s son filmed him driving to Trader Joe’s to give his homemade pie to Tara. “Was such a nice surprise, it was so unexpected, so I decided that I was going to make my homemade Key lime pie and bring it to Tara and that’s what we’re doing,” Jeff said in the video. “If a stranger brought me a pie, not sure if I’d eat it, but here’s hoping Tara at least appreciates the gesture.”

When Jeff returned to Trader Joe’s with the pie, Tara was shocked. “Oh my God!” she said with a huge smile. “This made my day, you don’t even know.”

“Can I give you all a hug? You don’t know how much this made my day,” Tara said, while welling up with happy tears. “This was so nice of you to do.” Before he left the store, Jeff made sure she kept the pie frozen.

The heartfelt exchange struck a nerve with people on TikTok. “So special and to know people still care about people,” Tiffany wrote in the comments. “Tara is a gift to the world; you are a gift to this world, and I’m willing to bet that pie is also a gift to this world!” Jordan added.

Jeff thought giving Tara the pie was a great thing to do in a world with so much negative news. “I thought it could potentially be a really positive thing to do,” Jeff told Today. “Especially given everything going on in the world, a small act of kindness and humanity goes a long way.”

The funny thing is that the Greene family has yet to taste the original Key lime pie Tara gave them at Trader Joe’s. “We can’t really go back to Trader Joe’s until we’ve actually tried the pie that she bought us,” Jeff joked.

Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant have become friendly rivals in a way, as the Wolves up-and-coming young star idolized Durant growing up and has delighted in getting a chance to battle with the future Hall of Famer. The two met in this year’s playoffs, with Edwards’ Wolves getting the best of Durant’s Suns, and Edwards didn’t pass up the chance to talk trash to his favorite player — which Durant clearly loved.

It’s the type of relationship that can only be forged between two elite competitors, who relish the opportunity to try and meet a challenge. Now, the two are teammates on Team USA, but the competition between them hasn’t stopped. Edwards said after the Wolves playoff win that he’d be reminding KD he sent him home all summer, and got the best of KD once again in practice this week when he threw down a big dunk on Durant that went viral thanks to an incredible photo.

Durant, our most online NBA superstar, naturally saw the reactions and authored a simple (and very funny) response, referencing an iconic CJ McCollum tweet.

For one, it’s a truly sensational photo and if I were Anthony Edwards I’d have it framed and hanging in my house as soon as I got back from Paris. It’s also not surprising that Durant would have some fun with it, but you can bet Ant will add this to his list of things to remind KD of the remainder of the Olympics.

Mustard’s fourth studio album, Faith Of A Mustard Seed, is out this Friday, July 26, five years after the release of its predecessor, Perfect Ten. As with his prior albums, Faith… has a massive, star-studded guest list featuring over a dozen frequent collaborators. One name, however, is conspicuously absent after a successful recent collaboration, and fans can’t help but ask if Kendrick Lamar will be on Faith Of A Mustard Seed.

The tracklist, which Mustard shared earlier this week, doesn’t include Kendrick’s name, but given how many artists these days keep at least one feature a secret, it’s entirely possible he could show up on the completed album. After all, Megan Thee Stallion’s album Megan didn’t have Big KRIT on the tracklist before its release, and she let fans be surprised.

Kendrick Lamar, of course, would be a perfect surprise addition to Faith Of A Mustard Seed, after his Mustard-produced single “Not Like Us” became the de facto song of the summer. It outlasted the battle between Drake and Kendrick, delivering Kendrick’s second solo Billboard Hot 100 No.1 and Mustard’s first. Mustard also appears in the song’s video.

Mustard was also one of the billed guests on Kendrick’s Pop Out – Ken & Friends concert in Los Angeles, playing a set with his own guests Blxst, Dom Kennedy, Steve Lacy, Ty Dolla Sign, and Tyler The Creator.

Even if Ken doesn’t appear on Faith Of A Mustard Seed, it’ll be the first time Mustard raps on a record, which is more than enough reason to tune in.

Faith Of A Mustard Seed is out on 7/26 via 10 Summers Records and Interscope.

Boomers get a bad reputation for not understanding how expensive the world is today and for not being present for their children. The complaint list for boomers is so long that you’d believe they’ve never done anything good. But surely, the people starting to settle into retirement, or at least the idea of it, have contributed something to the younger generations.

While it may be a trend to dunk on boomers, they did some pretty cool things. They were alive when the first man walked on the moon. Many of the older boomers were college kids protesting for civil rights and against the Vietnam War in the ’60s. They were part of the hippie movement, which led to the legalization of birth control for unmarried women in 1972. Boomers were also the generation that saw women get the right to open a bank account without their husband or father’s signature.

So, clearly, the folks younger generations like to poke fun at did some pretty amazing things, but what good things did they teach their children? Millennials have spoken.

In a Reddit group dedicated to Xennials, the micro-generation between Gen X and Millennials posed the question, “What do you think was your best lesson learned by being raised by Boomers,” and they answered.

“I’m 41. My parents were both born in ‘48. They have always been fairly liberal, artsy types. The best thing I learned from them is that racism, sexism and homophobia is wrong and we should all actively work to make the world a better place. Also, that societal expectations are arbitrary and that you should carve your own path and be yourself,” one person wrote.

“I was born in ‘79 (mom 1955 and dad 1949 so both boomers). The best thing I learned from then was to not make excuses and be independent. They were not neglectful but they weren’t helicopter parents and let me suffer the consequences of my actions when I messed up,” another said.

Boomers playing Jenga. Photo credit: Canva

“Boomer parents taught me about cool hippie era counterculture stuff and gave me a leg up on having music, literature, and film nerd cred,” another commenter shared.

“My parents very much taught me how to do things for myself. I knew how to fix the minor things on my car, basic plumbing, electric, obviously I could mow a lawn and grow some plants. They taught me to cook more than just the bare bones, but tasty stuff. I could do laundry the right way. And my mom actually took time to teach me how to learn. Back in the day you needed to know how to use encyclopedias and librarians. She told me I needed to know how to ask the right questions to learn what was necessary. I think they did a great job with these,” one commenter responded.

For a generation that gets a lot of criticism, they did some pretty cool things and for their children to take a moment to recognize the good things about being raised by them is definitely a change in the right direction.