DIY rappers Tobe Nwigwe and Big KRIT link up to advise listeners to embrace their individuality in the exquisitely-styled video for “Bozos.” Set in an empty amphitheater, the video sees the two Southern rappers flanked by a flight of dancers and draped in crimson tunics emblazoned with their iconic album art as they call out “Bozos” who just go along with the crowd. “Don’t join the circus if you ain’t a clown,” they warn while spitting verses full of warm encouragement for the iconoclasts who follow their own path.
If you haven’t heard of Dallas rapper Tobe Nwigwe before this, it’s time to get familiar (here’s his immaculate NPR Tiny Desk Concert as a primer). Earlier this year, Tobe went viral with a series of short songs this summer referencing Breonna Taylor and police brutality. Displaying his full capabilities as a rapper, singer, designer, director, and producer, the videos for “I Need You To (Breonna Taylor)” and “Try Jesus” took off on Instagram after being shared by Diddy, LeBron James, and more. They launched the rapper, who’s been steadily toiling as an indie artist for the past several years, to a new level of well-deserved stardom. He’s an artist that serious rap fans should be keeping an eye on in the future, as he’s just getting started.
Watch the “Bozos” video above. Read Uproxx’s interview with Big KRIT here.
Foo Fighters had big plans this year to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band. Most of those got scrapped, though, since the pandemic shut down the music world (and the world overall). For example, they had a van tour planned, which would have brought them to places they played on their first tour, but that had to be canceled. They did find at least one way to celebrate, though. Today, the group shared “Times Like Those,” a new video in which they take time to sit down and reflect on their musical journey.
For the video, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee sat down in a small theater, got comfortable in recliners, munched on classic movie theater snacks, and went through some old photos and videos. They flipped through the pictures and clips, playfully roasted each other, dropped some trivia tidbits (Grohl taught Shiflett how to tie a tie), and shared some laughs. Most people won’t have to opportunity to chill out with the entire band, but this video, which runs for 26 minutes, feels like a casual hang with Grohl and company.
The band wrote alongside the video, “Maybe the 25th anniversary year didn’t go *quite* as planned but we were still able to come together for a look back at the last 25 years.”
Lil Baby may own a semi-permanent spot on the Billboard 200 top 10 as his album My Turn is one of the best-selling albums of the year but that hasn’t been enough for his fans. They’re convinced he deserves more recognition — especially after missing out on a number of key awards this year despite impressive sales of both My Turn and its singles “Emotionally Scarred” and “The Bigger Picture.”
Last night at the American Music Awards, Lil Baby was one of the six artists shortlisted to win Best New Artist alongside DaBaby, Doja Cat, Lewis Capaldi, and Roddy Ricch. Doja Cat ultimately took home the award, leaving Baby’s fans doubly disappointed after he failed to win Album Of The Year at the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards — an award that went to Roddy Ricch for Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial.
The double “L” sent the Atlanta rapper’s fans to Twitter in droves to express their discontent. “How the hell Doja cat win over Lil baby i’m tired of that man getting robbed,” read one complaint. Another referenced Doja’s chat room scandal from a few months ago (because once the narratives are set, they’re impossible to correct): “YALL TELLIN ME LIL BABY LOST TO DOJA CAT??” wrote the apoplectic fan. “OL GIRL WHO WAS IN CHAT ROOMS WIT RACISTS???”
How the hell Doja cat win over Lil baby i’m tired of that man getting robbed
Naturally, in an era where anyone with an email address can have a platform, people will share their opinions (and we all know what they say about those). Lil Baby seems unbothered about both losses, choosing not to respond for the most part, but it seems he’ll have to be satisfied with just having a best-selling album, two of the biggest singles of the year, and a legion of adoring, loyal fans who will take offense for him when they feel he’s been slighted.
Netflix’s The Witcher will return at some point next year with Season 2, and in the future, there will also be an animated, feature length movie called Nightmare of the Wolf and a live-action prequel series called The Witcher: Blood Origin. Jason Momoa has suggested his involvement with the later, which might make the Geralt of Rivia-loving audience feel a little too conflicted in their loyalties. Geralt will have new armor soon, though, and there are plenty of bathtubs in his future. Speaking of good soakings, here’s a video to tide over fans who might be curious to see how the White Wolf would spend the holidays. Here’s how the video was captioned on Twitter:
Save your sleds for another day,
for now is a time to simply slay.
Tis the season of #Witchmas.
Spoiler alert: Geralt is not into this Christmas in November thing. Jaskier loves it, though, and so should the fans. Essentially, this one-minute video re-contextualizes bloody moments from the first season while digitally inserting festive holiday decor as a “slay ride” goes down on the Continent with elf hats and gift-foxes aplenty. And it all goes down with a Christmas tune that you won’t be able to get out of your head, much like the “Toss A Coin” monstrosity. Thank goodness for bathtub respites.
It’s a mood, as people say these days, and Netflix is doing a marvelous job of keeping momentum for the series going while not actually being able to air new episodes yet. Production for The Witcher has halted twice in 2020 due to the pandemic, but we should expect a Season 2 update (and hopefully, a trailer) soon.
It was all of last week when much of TikTok was upset at the app’s biggest star, Charli D’Amelio. She lost nearly a million followers after requesting dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets during a seafood paella dish presented by a personal chef (I find nothing wrong with this), while her sister Dixie discovered a snail in her paella “and made faces and gagging noises.” In the video, Charli (not XCX) also made a fuss about wanting to hit 100 million followers on TikTok by the end of the year; she was around 99 million at the time the clip was filmed. That goal seemed impossible following the reaction to the “rude” clip, but the backlash was short lived. Charli’s at 100 million, and counting.
“Charli gained 1.5 million followers over the weekend, with an extra 200,000 already bumping her follower count on Monday morning,” according to BuzzFeed, putting her at 100.6 million followers on TikTok. “As well as this, the 16-year-old saw a rise of 260,000 followers on Instagram and 100,000 over on Twitter.” Bad press, no such thing, etc.
“I don’t even know how to react, mostly because this doesn’t feel real. How do people even react to this?” she said after hitting her goal. “I’m in my bathroom by myself watching edits on Twitter because they’re making me cry. I just genuinely do not know what to do. I’m so confused… Life doesn’t feel real. It’s just so weird to think a little over a year ago, I was in Connecticut doing regular school, doing nothing, and now I’m living in LA.” D’Amelio also announced that she and TikTok will donate $100,000 to the American Dance Movement, which increases access to dance education in the U.S.
Every year since 2017, Phoebe Bridgers has released a new project, whether that be a solo album, her Boygenius EP, or her Better Oblivion Community Center record. During that same frame, she has also released a new holiday-themed song annually around this time of year. It began with “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” in 2017, which was followed by a Jackson Browne-featuring rendition of “Christmas Song” in 2018 and a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night” in 2019, for which she was joined by Matt Berninger and Fiona Apple.
Now, Bridgers has kept the streak alive in 2020, as she just dropped her yearly holiday song. This time, it’s a cover of Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December,” on which she is accompanied by frequent collaborator Ethan Gruska on piano. Last year’s holiday single benefited Planned Parenthood, but this year, proceeds from sales and streams of the song will go to Downtown Women’s Center, which describes itself as “the only organization in Los Angeles focused exclusively on serving and empowering women experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless women.”
2020 has been a good year for new Bridgers music. Aside from this song and her new album Punisher, she also just dropped her Copycat Killer EP, which features alternate versions of some Punisher tracks.
Listen to Bridgers’ cover of “If We Make It Through December” above.
Last night’s American Music Awards show was packed with memorable performances, like a surprise Nelly appearance that made the St. Louis rap veteran go viral on Twitter. However, one performance fans didn’t get to see was reggaeton star Bad Bunny’s; today, Billboard revealed the reason for his absence: he tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the show.
It was a blow for Bad Bunny and his fans after his “Dakiti” collaboration with Jhay Cortez reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and he won Favorite Male Latin artist and Favorite Latin album at the AMAs for his album YHLQMDLG. He was billed to perform “Dakiti” with Cortez but was forced to pull out due to his positive test. Billboard‘s sources say he’s doing okay.
Fortunately, the other big-name star who missed the show had a more positive reason for doing so. Taylor Swift also skipped the AMAs, but only because she is so busy re-recording her first six albums in an effort to reclaim ownership of her music. There were still plenty of crowd-pleasing performances from the likes of Bebe Rexha (who performed with Doja Cat), Billie Eilish, BTS, Dua Lipa, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and The Weeknd, who performed with Kenny G(!).
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After his, shall we say, more rotund appearance in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel fans have been curious about what exactly Chris Hemsworth will look like in Thor: Love and Thunder. Well, now we know the answer: Dude is going to be jacked as hell. In a workout photo posted to Instagram over the weekend, Hemsworth shows off his hulking new frame that had even Jason Momoa hopping into the replies to call him a “beast.”
“Cheat day today. Decided to treat myself to this extra large donut, gosh it’s heavy,” Hemsworth wrote in the caption.
You can see Hemsworth looking swole below:
Chris Pratt also jumped into the comments to crack a joke about Hemsworth’s physique, which confirms reports that the Guardians of the Galaxy star will appear in Thor: Love and Thunder. “Hey bud, just heard from my trainer and he needs you to stop working out because since we’re gonna be in the same movie and everything he doesn’t want me to stand next to you if you look like that,” Pratt joked. “So I’m gonna need you to put on 26 lbs real quick cool thanks.”
Ever the benevolent god, Hemsworth set Pratt’s mind at ease with a joke of his own. “Don’t worry mate we can just both use the same fancy filter that’s been applied here. It’s called instashred.”
Of course, Hemsworth’s body transformation shouldn’t come as a total surprise. Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi hinted back in April that he wouldn’t keep the Lebowski Thor gag going. When asked by fans during a live Q&A if Fat Thor would return, Waititi responded, “We haven’t figured that out, but I feel like that’s done.”
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Next year, Megan Thee Stallion’s rollicking new albumGood News will be the perfect complement to carefree nights out and liquor-fueled house parties. This year, however, it has the rotten luck to have been released into a nightlife-dulling pandemic, blunting its sharp nose for antics. That makes it a weird project to take in; on one hand, there’s intent to consider, while on the other, there’s context. They’re both always a factor in how music is listened to, processed, enjoyed, reviewed, or discarded, but in this case, how you view Good News depends on which aspect you give the most account. As it is, Good News is a breath of fresh air for a year that left many people feeling stifled and stuck indoors.
As a directive work of entertainment, it’s A1. Ever since entering the mainstream consciousness in 2018 with her fan-favorite EP Tina Snow, Megan’s been pretty consistent in offering her tongue-wagging status-quo-challenging brand of femininity and empowerment. She may only have one bag, but Good News demonstrates how impossibly deep it can get, expanding the range of classic 1990s hip-hop and R&B samples she can co-opt to her purposes (Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me,” Michel’le’s “Something In My Heart,” and yes, The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Who Shot Ya” all make appearances). The production is absolutely stellar and Megan rarely misses a beat.
But as a historical document, a record of the state of the world as of its release, Good News seems mostly disinterested in speaking to the moment. The obvious exception, of course, is Megan’s head-on address of the most devastating event in her personal world: The July incident in which she accused fellow rapper Tory Lanez of shooting her in the feet. Fittingly set to the aforementioned Biggie classic, she defiantly dismantles his mewling defenses of his actions on the night in question and his frankly appalling counter-accusations on his own recently released project, Daystar.
“Talkin’ ’bout bones and tendons like them bullets wasn’t pellets,” she growls on “Shots Fired,” directly referencing Tory’s lyrics from “Money Over Fallouts” to undercut his objections. “A p*ssy n***a with a p*ssy gun in his feelings.” There’s a dismissive, almost perfunctory tone to the opener, almost as if Megan is exasperated she even has to address this nonsense still; this is her getting it out of the way so she can get back to being a hot girl. However, in the process, she inadvertently applies the same treatment to her Breonna Taylor callout toward the end of the song. With only one line devoted to the subject on pretty much the whole album, Meg leaves listeners with only her New York Times op-ed to find her comments on any topic deeper than twerking.
On standout tracks like “Freaky Girls” and “What’s New,” Meg judo flips patriarchal attitudes, turning the male gaze and its resultant criticism back on her critics. “Pussy n****s on the internet talk ‘bout some pussy they ain’t gettin’,” she sneers at them. Meanwhile, on “Go Crazy,” she steals the show from punchline pros 2 Chainz and Big Sean who turn in some of their funniest verses of the year (“Your ho just left, she a southpaw” sent me to heaven and back). And when Megan teams up with Juicy J — as she does on “Freaky Girls,” “Work That,” and “Outside” — their chemistry remains unmatched and every bit as potent as it was on Fever in 2019.
She even brushes up on the weak points from her spring EP Suga: The singing and poppier tracks that dragged down the back half of that effort. While they still aren’t her strong suit, she strategically scatters the dancehall-aping “Intercourse” and synth-pop reach “Don’t Rock Me To Sleep” to keep them from dragging the energy too far down. The latter is even a decent example of its particular species, it’s just not quite what you really want to hear this particular artist trying to do.
One thing you won’t hear her do here is address most of the noxious bad vibes from the course of this year. While you wouldn’t expect an album called Good News to sink too far into rehashing our various shared misfortunes, the “News” part does kind of entail some commentary on current events. That commentary is a no-go, though; the Breonna Taylor reference is about as topical as it gets. Whether that lack comes as a welcome break from the onslaught of terrible dispatches from the 24-hour doomsday documentary cycle or a critical failure on the part of the artist depends on your view.
This is where longtime readers might expect me to complain about the lack of depth on the majority of Good News, but to be honest, I think there’s a lot to be said for knowing your lane and staying in it. If literal legions of male rappers can get away with endless tributes to cars, chains, watches, and elaborate cocktails of drugs, surely Megan can serve up a collection of odes to her body — especially when they’re as well-executed and hooky as the song titled “Body,” which employs a Miami-bass-ish, uptempo drumline for her to chat about her “out-of-control” ass-to-waist ratio and love for herself (“If I wasn’t me… I would have bought me a drink”).
Megan takes enough steps outside her comfort zone to justify her staying in it, while she finds a truly astonishing range of ways to tackle her favorite subjects. If most of the songs here are club anthems they display a lot of variety — “Don’t Stop” is as different from “Body” as “Girls In The Hood” is from “Do It On The Tip” — and they get the job done; TikTok and Instagram are already swiftly filling with choreographed dance routines and confidence-building quotes inspired by Megan’s unbowed persona. If she can continue to pave the way for a wave of unabashed, uninhibited, empowered women with no use for the status quo, well then, that’s good news, indeed.
Good News is out now via 1501 Certified Ent/300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the hottest R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
This week, Jazmine Sullivan released a new song on Friday (Nov. 20) titled “Pick Up Your Feelings,” Summer Walker is spreading holiday cheer with the release of her rendition of “Santa Baby,” and Savannah Re dropped her first project of the year. Check out the rest of the best new R&B below.
Jazmine Sullivan — “Pick Up Your Feelings”
Jazmine Sullivan is a singer with soul who knows how to make her listeners really feel the music and nothing less can be said for her latest single “Pick Up Your Feelings.” Jazmine is currently working a new album, which is good news because her voice is a necessary addition to all R&B playlists.
Summer Walker — “Santa Baby”
“Santa Baby” is a Christmas classic and ahead of the winter holiday, Summer Walker shared her rendition of the 1953 Eartha Kitt jingle. The song currently lives on LVRN’s upcoming Christmas compilation album Home For The Holidays, which also features fellow labelmates 6lack, Westside Boogie, OMB Bloodbath, Dram and more.
Savannah Re — Opia
Savannah Re is a Toronto R&B gem and today she delivered her project Opia to much acclaim. Nine songs deep, Savannah flexes her vocals on each track over a production that’s fitting for her emotionallly-filled silky smooth voice.
Bri Steves — “Sober”
Drunk FaceTime calls are a thing and in the spirit of relatability, Bri Steves has arrived with her latest vibe “Sober.” It’s a relatable bop for anyone who has been a victim of those drunken moments of weakness when fleeting thoughts of lust about a past lover seems to linger. “I wrote ‘Sober’ about my ex,” Bri said in a statement. “We’ve always had this toxic relationship, and I’d always call him when I was drunk. That’s what ‘Sober’ is all about – the past, just like the liquor…It’s all intoxicating.” The song is the follow-up to her previously released track “Stick Up” with fellow Philly rapper Poundside Pop and is expected to live on her forthcoming EP.
DaniLeigh — “Monique”
DaniLeigh put on a swaggy performance of “Monique” off her recently released project Movie for our latest episode of Uproxx Sessions. The Miami native brought her bossy, yet fun energy to the set and delivered a live performance of the Retro Future-produced track.
Luh Kel — “Feen” Feat. Trippie Redd
In a mission to bring love back to music, Luh Kel offered the deluxe version of his album L.O.V.E. today and it features a new song with Trippie Redd called “Feen.” Catching up with Luh Kel on set of the music video he told us about it. “This is my biggest budget video,” he said to Uproxx. I’m flying in the air and getting captured by a gust of wind with a bunch of video effects.”
IV4 — “Work 2 Hard”
Rising singer IV4 is offering one for all the hustlers out this week with her latest release “Work 2 Hard.” This is the follow-up to her second single of 2020, “Swimming” with Trippie Redd.
Check out this week’s R&B picks, plus more on Uproxx’s Spotify playlist below.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
(@darealtonee) 
we need a recount ASAP!
(@_Lashea29) 
