Hip-hop is moving as fast as ever. Luckily, we’re doing the work to put the best new rap music in one place for you. The roundup had a slight delay this week, but that allowed us to cover much more of the new music that came out this weekend. There were visuals from City Girls, Public Enemy, and Tory Lanez. There was also new music from Reason, Kamaiyah, Kyle, Lil Uzi Vert and Shy Glizzy, Trippie Redd, as well as Swae Lee. Here’s the rest of the best new rap music this week:

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie — Artist 2.0

Last Friday, A Boogie became the latest artist to capitalize off of the polarizing trend of deluxe albums with the newest version of his Artist 2.0 project. He followed up the February project with nine more melodic tracks, including an intro with his three-year-old Melody.

Tee Grizzley — The Smartest

Tee Grizzley served up another batch of raw rap with a Detroit bounce on The Smartest, his latest mixtape. The 17-track project has features from Big Sean, Lil Baby, Lil Keed, and Meek Mill, who featured on the surging “Lions and Eagles.”

Young Chris — “Yellow Flag” Feat. Wale

During the same weekend that Wale released his The Imperfect Storm EP, his collaboration with Young Chris also dropped. The two took turns rhyming skillfully over a gentle sample, veering from romance to their upbringing, and everything in between.

3OhBlack — “Hollup” Feat. MoneyBagg Yo & Tay Keith

3OhBlack has fun with the different connotations of “Hollup” on his latest track, where MoneyBagg Yo also drops some confident bars over fluttery keys.

42 Dugg — “Habit (Remix)” Feat. MoneyBagg Yo

MoneyBagg Yo also made an appearance on the remix to Detroit rapper 42 Dugg’s energetic “Habit” track, a track from Dugg’s Young And Turnt project.

Fredo Bang — “Receipts”

Fredo Bang calls out the phonies on “Receipts,” letting us know he’s well aware of everyone who talks up things they’re not about — especially his fellow rappers.

Casanova — “Red Light” Feat. Smoove’L

It’s a BK thing on “Red Light,” where Casanova and up-and-comer Smoove’L take turns crooning about the trials of the streets over moody 808-driven production.

Smokepurrp — Florida Jit

Smokepurrp delayed his Florida Jit album multiple times out of respect for the current social climate. The Florida rhymer finally released the album this week, right in time for the official start of summer. The project features Rick Ross, Denzel Curry, Young Nudy, and partner-in-thyme Lil Pump, who helps kick off the album right on the quaking “Off My Chest.”

Calboy — “Brand New” Feat. King Von

Chicago MCs Calboy and King Von have impressive chemistry that they once again displayed on “Brand New,” where they both had fun with their flows over a filtered, slinky production.

Rockie Fresh & Casey Veggies — “Demeanor” Feat. Currensy

Rockie Fresh and Casey Veggies are set to reprise their Fresh Veggies project. They offered a preview of what to expect with “Demeanor,” a smooth, interstellar production tailormade for both men to get luxuriant alongside Currensy.

Flo Milli — “Like That B*tch”

Flo Milli is preparing to drop her Ho, Why Is You Here? EP next month. She dropped her flaunty “Like That B*tch” single, where she displays her charismatic mic presence and lets the competition know they aren’t seeing her.

Vince Ash — “Vito”

“Vito” is a charging track where Hammond, Indiana MC Vince Ash shows off his domineering mic presence and lets us know, “I’m the company I keep but stand alone as a G.”

Xavier Wulf — “Don’t Touch The Remote”

Xavier Wulf is the latest entrant into the Adult Swim Singles canon. On “Don’t Touch The Remote,” he swags over a Marcelo production, and rhymes, “I watch Adult Swim b*tch turn that back.”

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

As the NBA inches toward its 22-team restart of the 2019-20 season in Orlando, many factors are still up in the air. In addition to health concerns related to COVID-19, several players have voiced concerns through the lens of activism. From there, there are financial concerns for players that are pending free agents and/or candidates for contract extensions after the 2019-20 season ends. One such example is Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans, who will reportedly become the first player to choose to sit out the restart for basketball/financial reasons.

Wojnarowski describes this choice as a “preventative measure” for Bertans, while also bringing word that the Wizards “fully support” the decision. While it may seem strange to some, Bertans is perhaps the prime example of a player with real incentive to stay out of the bubble, especially when considering all of the factors in play for his individual case.

Bertans, who will turn 28 years old in November, just enjoyed the best season of his career, averaging 15.4 points per game and knocking down 42.4 percent of his three-point attempts on immense volume. The 6’10 forward is also approaching unrestricted free agency and, while he did earn $7 million in each of the past two seasons, Bertans is set to command a substantial raise, either from the Wizards or another suitor.

Finally, there is the reality that the Wizards are not exactly set up to make a substantial run toward the NBA title. Washington enters the bubble with the worst record among the 22 invited teams and, even with eight seeding games on deck, the Wizards are a long-shot to even make the playoffs, much less to knock off the Milwaukee Bucks or Toronto Raptors in the first round. To that end, it is fully understandable that Bertans would choose the safe route, especially with documented injury history and the likelihood that his next contract could be the largest of his career.

Bertans could, however, be surrendering a bit of salary for the 2019-20 season as part of this move.

In the grand scheme, it is more than worth it from a financial standpoint for Bertans, especially when considering that the Wizards have voiced a desire to retain his services, presumably on a lucrative contract. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the league reacts but, in short, the logistics of Bertans’ situation are perfectly designed for this decision, and it is tough to find fault in what he is doing.

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Ja Rule jokes are once again flying on Twitter after the man himself appeared in a TV commercial for a Greek deli. The low-budget ad promotes Los Angeles small business Papa Cristo’s Greek Grill with some “creative” pronunciations of its menu items from Ja as he stands in front of a green screen with images of the food behind him. Among the words Ja fails to pronounce are “gyros,” which he says are so good you’ll want to lick your fingers (he demonstrates), “tzatziki” (a dip made of yogurt), “oktapodakia” (grilled baby octopus), and “avglolemono (egg and lemon) soup.”

The commercial is, frankly, completely bonkers and hilarious, but it’s also kind of sweet. Ja seems to really be enjoying himself, grinning the whole way through. He talks lovingly about how good the food is and teases himself for being unable to pronounce the food names “’cause it’s so damn good.” Meanwhile, Papa Cristo himself shows up via a face app screen capture that turns him into a DJ at a crowded club. It’s silly and fun and might remind you of some of the best local business commercials from way back in the day with inescapable jingles and lovable, albeit sheisty-seeming pitchmen (let’s not forget the Fyre Festival fiasco).

Naturally, once the ad found its way to Twitter, the gyro-style roasts came fast and furious (heyo!), including one from 50 Cent, who never did let go of their mid-2000s beef despite ostensibly winning. As it turns out, though, Ja had a sweet reason for doing the ad, using his notoriety to help out a small business struggling from COVID-19 closure as part of a new TBS show, Celebrity Show-Off. It turns out that maybe we should be looking for Ja Rule in a disaster — he’ll be doing his part to help out. Check out some of the best reactions below.

Back in March, Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes started sharing their first new material in almost a decade. While there were suggestions that a comeback album was on the way, there have been no firm announcements. That changes today, though: Bright Eyes have revealed that their ninth album is titled Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was, and it’s coming out on August 21. The announcement was accompanied by a new song, “Mariana Trench,” a big indie-rocker with some jittery, frenetic detours.

Press materials say the album “functions on a global, apocalyptic level of anxiety that looms throughout the record. But on a personal level, it speaks to rooting around in the dirt of one’s memories, trying to find the preciousness that’s overgrown and unrecognizable. For Conor Oberst, coming back to Bright Eyes was a bit of that. A symbol of simpler times, vaguely nostalgic. And even though it wasn’t actually possible to go back to the way things were, even though there wasn’t an easy happy ending, there was a new reality left to work with. […] Down in the Weeds Where The World Once Was is an enormous record caught in the profound in-between of grief and clarity — one arm wrestling its demons, the other gripping the hand of love, in spite of it.”

Watch the “Mariana Trench” video above, and below, find the Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was art and tracklist.

1. “Pageturner’s Rag”
2. “Dance And Sing”
3. “Just Once In The World”
4. “Mariana Trench”
5. “One And Done”
6. “Pan And Broom”
7. “Stairwell Song”
8. “Persona Non Grata”
9. “Tilt-A-Whirl”
10. “Hot Car In The Sun”
11. “Forced Convalescence”
12. “To Death’s Heart (In Three Parts)”
13. “Calais To Dover”
14. “Comet Song”

Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was is out 8/21 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.

The Netflix top-10 is always a wild ride, but its especially chaotic right now. Space Force is still up there at #9, which makes sense considering how popular The Office continues to be, as does the final season of 13 Reasons Why (#7), but how does one possibly explain the 2014 animated squirrel comedy The Nut Job at #6, or the Amy Poehler and Tina Fey-starring Baby Mama at #8, or something called Lost Bullet, which looks like a French Fast and Furious, at #4? The top two slots are particularly unhinged, with the previous #1, Polish erotic drama 365 Days (think: Fifty Shades of Grey with a lower budget, but more nudity), at two and competition series Floor Is Lava in the top spot, of course.

Much like Christian Grey in the bedroom, Netflix viewers’ tastes are very… singular.

As you can probably guess, Floor Is Lava is based on the game of the same name, where the floor is — and I cannot stress this enough — lava. (The Wikipedia entry helpfully notes that the “game is similar to the traditional children’s game ‘Puss in the Corner,’ or ‘Puss Wants a Corner,’ where children occupying the corner of a room are ‘safe,’ while the Puss, the player who is ‘It’ in the middle of the room, tries to occupy an empty corner as the other players dash from one corner to another.” Sounds like the 365 Days sequel.) How did Netflix get 10 episodes out of jumping from one thing to another?

Here’s how.

Oooh, now I get the concept. 365 Days was the most-watched title in the United States (and it reached the top-three in “Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, South Africa, Portugal, India, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Mauritius, Canada, and Israel,” according to TV Guide) for over a week, but the boat scene has finally met its match.

Honestly? I get it. Floor is Lava is good.

Weird to think that “Floor is Lava Tops Polish Erotic Drama to Become the Most-Watched Title on Netflix” isn’t even among the 500 wildest headlines from 2020.

(Via Forbes)

Disney+ decided to work a lot harder, like a certain infamous Hamilton line, to launch the cinematic version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original Broadway production way earlier than planned. Only a few short weeks remain before fans (many of whom were no doubt unable to secure hard-to-find tickets to the live show) can experience the Pulitzer and Tony award-winning musical in their living rooms, and July 3 should strike a celebratory tone in a year where one is welcomed.

To that end, Disney+ released the first trailer ahead of Hamilton‘s arrival on its streaming platform. All of this will look familiar to viewers, but it’s no less an exciting and spine-tingling sight to witness. Disney+ reportedly paid $75 million to acquire the film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brainchild, and people are still wondering if curse words shall be censored, but whatever the case, this will be an experience for fans.

Pull out your wigs and get your Founding Father cosplay ready. Disney+ hopes to bring the excitement of a theater (while NYC is sorely missing Broadway productions) into living rooms by way of “live capture,” which aims to harness the power of streaming in an intimate manner. Given Hamilton‘s cultural impact and powerful, inspiring messages, its arrival near Independence Day couldn’t be more welcomed, especially in 2020.

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There was no doubt that the first four seasons of AMC’s Better Call Saul were about Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) transforming into Saul Goodman. Anyone who has seen Breaking Bad knew where Jimmy McGill would ultimately end up, and Saul basically filled us in on the detailed backstory. What no one saw coming — because we all underestimated her — is that the fifth season would be about Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) “breaking bad.”

It worked, however, because, while it was unexpected, it’s a story that Saul has been telling since the beginning. “I feel lucky that I did not think of this as one giant arc of this mask coming off,” Seehorn said this weekend during Deadline’s virtual Contenders Television event. “It was for me, filling in the jigsaw puzzle, taking the pieces that are there in these brilliant scripts that have as much loaded in not speaking as speaking. I don’t know where we are going, but I feel very lucky that I was allowed to play it honestly, incrementally, a step at a time.”

It may be one of the slowest burns in television history, but as Bob Odenkirk noted at the same event, the fifth season of Saul saw “the stakes of” McGill’s choice to become Saul Goodman, which included nearly getting Saul, Kim, and Mike all killed by Lalo. With Lalo still alive — and now angry that Gus Fring and Nacho tried to have him killed — the lives of everyone on this series are precarious. We at least know that Saul Goodman, Gus Fring, and Mike Ehrmantraut will survive the final season, because we see them in Breaking Bad. We cannot say the same thing about Kim Wexler, and as the series heads into its final batch of episodes, showrunner Peter Gould warns viewers of the potential heartbreak to come.

“We have a lot of ideas about where Jimmy and Kim are going,” Gould hinted at the Deadline event. “There’s some ideas which I am so excited about, but there is also a lot of sadness to where this is going.” Given the fact that we do not see Kim in Breaking Bad or in the Omaha flash-forwards with Gene Takovic, the sadness may allude to Jimmy and Kim’s break-up or worse. Should we be worried about Kim’s fate?

Vince Gilligan, who co-created the series along with Gould, noted last year that the ending of Saul will be “better” than that of Breaking Bad. Note, however, that he said “better,” not “happier.” In other words, yes: We should definitely be worried.

Production of the final season of Better Call Saul is expected to begin later this year, with the final 13 episodes airing in 2021.

(Via Deadline)

Social media was flooded with photos of dads and their children yesterday, since June 21 was Father’s Day. Many musicians weighed in, and one of them was Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl, who penned a lengthy and heartfelt tribute to his father.

Taking to his storytelling Instagram page, Grohl began:

“‘YOUR WRITING HAS PUNCH, DAVID. PUNCH IS POWER!’ After all these years, this simple message, my first words of true validation as a fledgling writer, has never left me. It echoes in my mind like a long canyon scream each time I sit down to a blank page, and inspires my to fill it with my true voice. […]  It only makes sense that this particular validation wasn’t given by any of the poor, frustrated educators I left in my wake. No, it came from a truly brilliant writer who shaped my love (and fear) of the written word. The man, the myth, the legend … my father, James Harper Grohl.”

He went on to explain his father’s upbringing and some of the conflicts he and his old man had over the years, and described his dad as “a true Renaissance man,” an “actor, writer, award-winning journalist, lover of art and food, and a ferocious, classically trained musician.”

After hundreds of words, Grohl concluded his post, “My father was my first, and best, reader. It was through him that I found my love of writing, filling me with the same sense of purpose and accomplishment that I felt that night at the Bethesda Community Center as a rebellious teen. So much that I’ve even contemplated trying my hand at writing a book someday. Imagine that. Just call it ‘kicking the apple back up the hill a bit. If only he were still around to read it.”

Find Grohl’s full post below.