Mike Will Made-It is one of the more prolific producers in hip-hop these days and even his mind was blown by the productivity and work ethic of his collaborator Swae Lee. The Atlanta-based producer and EarDrummers Entertainment CEO tweeted his astonishment at Swae’s ability to churn out new music for his upcoming album, writing, “This man Swae Lee just submitted 733 songs to choose from for his album.” Just to drive home the point, he even added the “mind blown” emoji as well as the trio of symbols representing his label and crew.
This man swae lee just submitted 733 songs to choose from for his album … #HumanNature
— MOST VALUABLE PLAYMAKER (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) June 14, 2020
Swae announced that he’d be releasing his first “official” solo album, Human Nature, during a livestream concert way back in March after promising to use his time in quarantine productively. Apparently he lived up to the first promise if he was able to sketch out enough songs to impress his label’s head honcho. He even had time to crank out a cover of Diddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You.”
Of course, now the EarDrummers collective must cut down the available pool of choices to something more manageable before release — although album tracklists have ballooned in recent years, it’d likely still be a stretch to ask fans to sit through over 700 songs. We’ll see what they come up with, but if that figure is totally accurate, Swae Lee may have enough material left over for a few dozen new Rae Sremmurd albums as well.
Keeping up with the best new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of new music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw a timely remix of DaBaby’s No. 1 song and a young duo showing great maturity. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the rest of the best new music this week below.
DaBaby — “Rockstar (BLM Remix)” Feat. Roddy Ricch
DaBaby previously previewed a remix of “Rockstar” with new lyrics about current events, but now he has officially released the “BLM Remix” of his chart-topping single. Addressing the nationwide protests, DaBaby raps, “Rockstars, n****, just watch the news, they burnin’ cop cars, n**** / Kill another n****, break the law, then call us outlaws, n**** / What happened? Want us to keep it peaceful.”
Pop Smoke — “Make It Rain”
While last week brought the announcement that Pop Smoke’s posthumous album has been delayed, it also brought a new track from the late rapper. On “Make It Rain,” Smoke secured a feature from Rowdy Rebel.
RMR — Drug Dealing Is A Lost Art
RMR emerged as a meme with his expectation-subverting “Rascal” video, but he quickly established himself as more than a novelty. Now, he has given fans more to sink their teeth into with his debut EP, which features appearances from Future, Lil Baby, and Westside Gunn.
Lil Keed — “Fox 5” Feat. Gunna
Lil Keed and Gunna had a bit of an incident at their recent video shoot (for which Young Thug took the blame), but they managed just fine. In fact, they emerged with a clip for “Fox 5,” on which they attest that, despite the headlines they made while filming the clip, they wouldn’t be finding themselves on the news.
Lil Baby — “The Bigger Picture”
On the latest from Lil Baby, the rapper, like many others, is seeking systemic change in light of what’s happening in the US at the moment. What has changed already is the chart status of Lil Baby’s new album, as My Turn just found its way back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
NLE Choppa — “Shotta Flow 5”
People’s homes are their safe haven right now… unless you’re NLE Choppa in his new “Shotta Flow 5” video. In the clip directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett, Choppa wakes up to an intruder in his closet, and the chase gets pretty wild from there.
Kid Laroi — “Go” Feat. Juice WRLD
Juice WRLD had popped up on a number of tracks since his death about half a year ago now, and he has emerged again on another one. “Go” is the latest single from Kid Laroi, and the 16-year-old got a big-time assist via a verse from Juice, who previously served as a mentor for the young Australian rapper.
Gorillaz — “Friday 13th” Feat. Octavian
Gorillaz’s Song Machine carried on last week with another collaboration for the group, the Octavian-featuring “Friday 13th.” Octavian takes the lead here, dominating vocally on the relaxed groove from Gorillaz.
Michael Stipe And Big Red Machine — “No Time For Love Like Now”
The R.E.M. leader first previewed the latest song from Big Red Machine a couple months ago via a late-night television performance, but now he and the Aaron Dessner/Justin Vernon group have shared the official track. On the contemplative song, Stipe’s lyrics resonate in a way that’s relevant to modern times.
Chloe X Halle — Ungodly Hour
The Bailey sisters kicked off their joint musical careers as children, but they’re adults now, both in their 20s. As such, they bring a more pronounced sense of maturity on their latest album that shows just how far they’ve come in their young careers.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Who’s killed more people over the years: Stephen King or Jason Voorhees? It’s King (The Stand alone wiped out 99.4% of the world’s population), so let’s re-frame the question: who’s killed more horny teens, King or Voorhees? Now it’s a toss-up. The horror author has published over 60 novels and hundreds of short stories, but on Sunday night, he was preoccupied with the “best novel” he “never wrote.” It’s about Jason.
That would up both their body counts, horny teens or otherwise.
“The best novel idea I never wrote (and probably never will) is I JASON, the first-person narrative of Jason [Voorhees], and his hellish fate: killed over and over again at Camp Crystal Lake,” King tweeted to his 5.9 million followers. “What a hellish, existential fate!”
The best novel idea I never wrote (and probably never will) is I JASON, the first-person narrative of Jason Voohees, and his hellish fate: killed over and over again at Camp Crystal Lake. What a hellish, existential fate!
King continued, “Just thinking about the legal thicket one would have to go through to get permissions makes my head ache. And my heart, that too. But gosh, shouldn’t someone tell Jason’s side of the story? Blumhouse could do it as a movie.”
Happy Death Day meets Friday the 13th? Would watch.
King’s idea has the support of comedian Patton Oswalt, who offered his own horror novel suggestions. “Aaaaaaaand… I want this novel RIGHT NOW,” he tweeted. “Let’s do one of those Ace paperback ‘doubles.’ My half will be either LEATHERFACE: HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT or MICHAEL MYERS: BABYSITTERS, CLUBBED.” C’mon Patton, Pinhead should obviously be the one to teach how to make a quilt.
Alas, it’s unlikely King’s I, Jason will ever hit bookstores, as the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise have been stuck in a place scarier than actual Hell: legal hell.
It was a big weekend for Sia, but not in a good way. She confused Nicki Minaj for Cardi B on Twitter, and given the public spats those two have had over the years, fans of the rappers did not take that well.
In a now-deleted tweet, a fan posted a picture of Minaj and asked Sia if she would like to collaborate with the rapper. Sia, mistaking Minaj for Cardi B, responded, “I love @iamcardib and although this isn’t a collaboration, I would love to COLLAB with her any day!”
I love @iamcardib and although this isn’t a collaboration, I would love to COLLAB with her any day!
Thinking she sparked a feud between the two, Sia wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “Hey @iamcardib @NICKIMINAJ you aren’t thinking about a feud right now are you? We are focused on the problem of systemic racism.” She added in another tweet that was also deleted, “I don’t give a sh*t about feuds, George Floyd was f*cking murdered. Breonna Taylor. Murdered. Come on let’s rise in unity. You think @iamcardib and Nikki are so petty that they would want you focusing on a silly feud instead of REAL NEWS.”
Sia responds to backlash after she mixed up Nicki Minaj with Cardi B:
This also caused blackface allegations to re-emerge due to old photos of Sia with black coloring on her face. Sia didn’t comment on that over the weekend, but she previously addressed it in 2019, sharing a performance video from 2011 and writing on Twitter, “For the swift fans trying to make out that I would ever do blackface please see this video. I was painting myself into the backdrop, it was a pre cursor to the wig…” Sia addressed the images then because Taylor Swift fans brought them up, after Sia tweeted a message of support for Scooter Braun in mid-2019.
omfg why are there so many pics of sia in blackface? i’ve only seen the first one, looks like this was a before show routine for her wtf she’s sick pic.twitter.com/VfJFEtowaz
For the swift fans trying to make out that I would ever do blackface please see this video. I was painting myself into the backdrop, it was a pre cursor to the wig… https://t.co/6St0hWl1k1
Later, Sia apologized for her Minaj-Cardi mix-up, tweeting, “I totally misunderstood a tweet earlier that has resulted in me making a buffoon out of myself. Sorry @NICKIMINAJ and @iamcardib if you hear about it. Can I just like you both?”
I totally misunderstood a tweet earlier that has resulted in me making a buffoon out of myself. Sorry @NICKIMINAJ and @iamcardib if you hear about it. Can I just like you both?
It’s never surprising to see John Oliver remind his audience that he not a fan of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. Yet when Oliver fixates upon something (just ask Adam Driver), he can really get going, and that’s exactly what’s happening with his Carlson distaste. For the third consecutive week, Oliver’s taking on the “sentient polo mallet” after not one but two “f*ck you”s, and this time, it’s a particularly comedic affair.
In the opening moments of Last Week Tonight (which HBO has declined to post on YouTube, although the deep dive on facial recognition is available), Oliver highlighted Carlson’s raging fit overSesame Street taking a stance against police brutality and in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement. Carlson, as ludicrous as it sounds, lashed out last week over a pair of puppets, who were ultimately discussing why institutionalized racism has led to protests. He was entirely outraged to see this happening on a kids’ TV show — “Got that, Bobby? America is a very bad place and it’s your fault … So no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain” — and Oliver is here to tell “giant baby” Tucker to simmer down:
“F*ck off, Tucker, you one-man homeowner’s association … that unspecified ‘they’ in ‘what they do to you when you grow up’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. There’s basically two options for what that could mean. One, that Tucker and his viewers have benefited from a racist system that renders any specifications of who they are unnecessary. Or two, that his show is a badly written piece of garbage.”
This led to Oliver asking, “So which is it, Tucker? Are you a racist or are you a total f*cking moron?” And of course, Oliver conceded that the answer could be “both,” so there you have it. We might never see a Tucker-Elmo face off on the red puppet’s upcoming late-night talk show on HBO Max, but at least John Oliver got the ball rolling for the HBO team.
You can watch Sunday night’s Facial Recognition deep dive below.
Over the weekend, Sons of Anarchy actor Ron Perlman got into a Twitter-skirmish with Trump ally Matt Gaetz after the politician targeted the U.S. soccer teams for repealing Policy 604-1, which requires players to stand during the national anthem.
“The US Soccer team called and you guessed it… said they couldn’t give any less of a f*ck about what you two dipsh*ts think,” Perlman tweeted, referring to Trump and Gaetz, who replied, “This racial justice warrior had no problem in Hollywood portraying the White Supremacist leader of a motorcycle gang.” For one thing, Clay Marrow wasn’t a white supremacist, so get your SoA facts straight; also, Gaetz picked the wrong fight, as Perlman is funnier, has more followers, and his tag-team partner isn’t Ted Cruz.
After Perlman tweeted that Gaetz should feel “lucky” for Ohio representative Jim Jordan, because “if it weren’t for him, you’d be the ugliest politician walking,” Cruz wrote, “Listen Hellboy. You talk good game when you’ve got Hollywood makeup & stuntmen. But I’ll bet $10k — to the nonpolitical charity of your choice — that you couldn’t last 5 min in the wrestling ring w/ @Jim_Jordan w/o getting pinned. You up for it? Or does your publicist say too risky?” Ted isn’t volunteering to step into the ring himself — he’s making someone else do it, which is a very Ted Cruz thing to do, as is the “non-political charity.”
Wait, is this THEE Ted Cruz? Holy shit man! Is this the same guy let little Donnie call his wife A dog and his father an assassin and now kisses his ass? Yo, can I get your autograph man? https://t.co/6QDwCaEkpv
I tell you what teddy boy, since mentioning jim jordan and wrestling is… problematic, why don’t we say fuck him and just make it you & me. I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending. https://t.co/6QDwCaEkpv
Halsey’sManic, which she released at the top of the year, is a fully fleshed-out effort that gives fans of it plenty to explore. Aside from the core 16-song tracklist, various editions of the album also include bonus material. An extra track on the Japanese edition, for example, is a brief tune called “Wipe Your Tears.” Halsey was in a giving mood over the weekend, so she decided to share “the full OG version” of the song.
Instead of hitting streaming services, Halsey revealed the track on Twitter, seemingly without permission from her label or whatever powers that be. Sharing a screen recording of the audio playing on her phone, Halsey wrote, “prolly gon get in trouble for this but, happy pride ! here’s the full OG version of wipe your tears. my favorite wlw song of mine that ended up on a special release of Manic. if it gets taken down it ain’t my fault.” The track addresses a girl who is the object of Halsey’s admiration.
prolly gon get in trouble for this but, happy pride ! here’s the full OG version of wipe your tears. my favorite wlw song of mine that ended up on a special release of Manic if it gets taken down it ain’t my fault pic.twitter.com/2N7t6TMcM7
Halsey previously explained why the song didn’t make it onto the core Manic tracklist, saying, “It was really hard deciding which songs were going to be exclusive to different versions of the album. But I ultimately ended up putting ‘Wipe Your Tears’ and ‘I’m Not Mad’ as bonus tracks because even though I really wanted to keep them, they felt the least essential to the plot that I was trying to get across, because they were so much about other people. And even though there are songs on Manic about my experiences with others, I really wanted the journey to feel cohesive, as being about me, and about myself, and my discovery.”
Listen to the early version of “Wipe Your Tears” above.
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