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La La Anthony is one of the most prolific and cross-generational personalities that hip-hop culture has ever witnessed. There’s absolutely no one like her. The Brooklyn, New York-raised talent, born Alani Nicole Vázquez, got her start in radio at just 16 years old and it’s been on ever since. From radio to landing the coveted role as an MTV VJ for Total Request Live to huge acting roles as well as hosting the 2023 Met Gala red carpet for Vogue — and on top of it all, being a mother — there are so many reasons La La is important to the culture and with Hip Hop’s 50th approaching, it’s time to highlight that.

Right before the 2023 BET Awards, at the Amex & BET Watch Party at House of BET, I got a glimpse of La La at work with the lights, camera, and mic on. Oh, and the many eyes staring and all the ears listening (because it has to be quiet on the set, of course) while she did it. It looked like she could do this in her sleep — which should come as no surprise. She’s been thriving for years in an ever-changing media space and in so many ways. It’s to the point where there’s something comforting about knowing that La La’s involved. Whether it’s on Starz’s BMF or a cameo in a Drake music video, there’s a certain standard that comes with her association.

“I started on TRL really young and that was live TV, and you couldn’t mess up,” she told me after she wrapped filming. “So, I think I’ve gotten trained over the years to try to just do it in one take because on live television, you can’t do it again. So, I’m used to it.”

Exactly. There’s a reason La La will always be famous. During our conversation, we discussed her early days on the radio, with Ludacris giving her a shot, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and the music she’s looking forward to the most this year.

How did you get your start at the radio station in Atlanta?

I was an intern. And then from there, I worked really hard, and Ludacris, they gave me a shot at actually being on the radio with him when I was 16 years old. So that’s how everything started, and that’s how my career kind of started. I know, I know. It was young. It was young. Well, I lied and said I was 18 so I could get the job, but I was really 16. It was young, but I was driven. I knew I loved music, I knew I wanted to do something with music, so once the opportunity to intern came up, I knew that was something I wanted to do.

You took that risk?

I did. I took a chance. It was a fun job for me to intern at a radio station as a teenager. You get to hear all the music you love and you get to meet all the artists that you love.

And also, since… He wasn’t Ludacris then, right?

Chris Luva Luva.

Right. So you guys are both at the top of y’all’s game at this point. During that time though, when you both were on the radio, did you two ever discuss what you wanted the future to look like?

Chris always wanted to be a rapper and we knew that. I’ll never forget the day he came in the radio station and he said, “I’m going to leave this job now.” He said, “So you got two options. You’re either going to get in the car with me and we’re going to travel all over the country selling my mixtape or you’re going to have to find another radio job.” And I was like, do I want to be in his Hyundai for however many months just on the road? Or, do I want to pursue my own career? I always supported Chris, but I wanted to find my own lane.

I decided to go with the option of getting on another radio station. That’s when I moved to LA, probably at about 18 or 19 years old, and got on the radio here in LA.

It’s been so dope to see you go from radio to TRL to doing all the TV shows like Power and BMF and reality shows to hosting the Met Gala red carpet. What would you say is your most memorable interview moment?

The internship that we talked about started because I remember Method Man and the Wu-Tang Clan, they were opening up a clothing store in Atlanta and I wanted to meet Method Man. I wanted to meet the Wu-Tang Clan. I was such a fan growing up. So, it wasn’t an interview, but it was the moment where kind of my career started when I went to the clothing store that they were opening. I got the internship because the radio station was there.

I always think about Wu-Tang as what kind of started me in this career and everything, and then years later, I was also a part of the Wu-Tang series. So it all came full circle, to be acting in the Wu-Tang series and knowing that my career started following Wu-Tang at the clothing store that day. I feel like hip-hop is the soundtrack to my life and my career and my path, so I have so much love for it. It started my career in music. It’s been great to see a little bit of everything.

Do you remember the first rap you ever memorized?

Yes. “Anything” by Nas I memorized, and I still to this day know by heart.

Which album drops were you the most excited for this year?

I loved Drake and 21‘s album. Thug’s album was great. There’s been some great music this year for sure.

Do you have any projects that you’re looking forward to?

Well, if Drake does, then I’ll look forward to that, of course. Nicki Minaj said she was releasing, so definitely Nicki for sure. I mean, I just take them as they come, and then I get right into them. I know there’s some great concerts happening. Definitely, Beyoncé’s concert, so that’s going to be great. I know Drake is going on tour with 21, so I’m going to definitely go to that. It’s a great time for music.

Speaking of Beyoncé, I do have a question about a specific picture though, because I know one year at the Met Gala you, Beyoncé and Nicki took a photo. Tell me about that moment.

It’s always great energy with all of us. I think that Nicki, we were sitting next to each other at the Met, and then Bey was walking around and came over to say, ‘Hi,’ and then we just snapped a picture together. The Met is so fun. You never know who you’re going to see or who you’re going to run into. That was a couple years ago. It was a fun night.

What’s it like inside the Met Gala?

It’s like a dinner and then a performance — but it’s really fun. You get to see people that you love, people that you’re fans of and you get to see friends. It’s like a gathering of just great energy and people you don’t see all the time. So, it’s really a fun night and it’s in New York, which makes me happy because a lot of events are in LA, and I’m from New York and I live in New York, so it’s nice to have events like the Met be in New York.

What’s next for you or something we should look out for?

I just had a movie drop, The Perfect Find on Netflix with myself, Gabrielle Union, and Keith Powers. I just finished filming season three of BMF, which will drop in January, so people seem to be excited for another season of BMF.

Jay-Z likes celebrating his hometown, whether that’s investing $16.5 million in a robot pizza truck company in Brooklyn, or naming a song “Brooklyn Go Hard.”

Now, it looks like Brooklyn is celebrating Jay-Z. Footage is circulating of the Brooklyn Public Library covered in the rapper’s lyrics. According to Hell Gate, the library is closed today (July 13) as it prepares for a Jay-Z exhibit opening tomorrow.

“What I’ve heard is that Roc Nation is covering the cost of all the installations,” a source told Hell Gate.

Following the Grammys, Jay-Z discussed Beyonce’s loss for Album Of The Year. “I remove myself from the process and hope they just get it right,” he said. “It got to the point where I was like, it’s just a marketing thing. You go, you got an album out and it could help the sales go up.”

“Look what it’s done to the culture,” he continued about Renaissance. “Look how the energy of the world moved. They play her whole album in the club. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. The whole entire joint — like, everything?! Every remix is amazing. Everyone’s inspired. It has inspired the world. Every remix is better than the other one.”

When Donald Trump visited NATO headquarters in 2017 and literally shoved world leaders out of the way to get a better position for a photo, most people viewed that as yet another embarrassing sign that he’s unfit to be president. Not Jesse Watters! The Fox News host couldn’t stop gushing about the viral moment while bashing Joe Biden for not doing the same.

Biden met with NATO leaders in Lithuania this week where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a pressing topic. Like a respectable politician and human beings, Biden did not shove other world leaders out of his way, and in true Fox News style, Watters argued that America is weaker for it.

“The American president usually dominates every room,” Watters said. “When [George W.] Bush went overseas, he commanded authority. Every leader was trying to get facetime. Optics is always important in politics, especially overseas. The world’s watching.”

Cue the Trump gushing. Via Mediaite:

Trump knew that – 2017, when all the leaders were heading to a photo op, Trump pushed the president [sic] of Montenegro out of the way so he could be front and center. Sorry, Montenegro. we got the F-35s. Biden doesn’t do that. Looks like a freshman on the first day of school.

As Mediaite notes, this isn’t the first time that Watters has worshipped at the feet of Trump’s childish impulses. He made similar remarks when Biden visited Brussels last year.

“Remember, he pushed the president [sic] of Montenegro out of the way so he could be upfront and center on stage – leading? Everybody knew there he was in charge,” Watters said. “Not Joe Biden. He’s not acting like a leader.”

Yes, Donald Trump, a real manly man who reportedly spends hours each morning applying pancake makeup and elaborately constructing his hair before going out into the world.

(Via Mediaite)

Lil Wayne has successfully straddled the line between rap and sports for decades. The 2023 ESPYs were last night, July 12, and some athletic figures walked away with a higher honor than a trophy: An improvised name-check from Lil Wayne during his performance of “A Milli” to open the broadcast.

Lil Wayne seamlessly altered the song’s famous bars to include nods toward LSU women’s basketball standout Angel Reese, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, San Antonio Spurs 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, and NFL Hall Of Famer-turned-Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders.

The mad dash ended with Wayne spitting, “I want my NIL so I’m goin’ back to college / Tattoos on my face, you can call me Dennis Rodman.” Wayne thanked the crowd before leaving the stage and welcomed everyone to the 2023 ESPYs.

If such a category existed, Wayne would have been the frontrunner for Best Sports Analyst In Rap. The New Orleans icon recently ranked LeBron James as the best basketball player of all time while visiting Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke and weighed in with empathy on Ja Morant’s public slip-ups. Perhaps most stunningly, Lil Wayne praised Eli Manning’s rapping during an appearance on ManningCast last December.

Watch Lil Wayne’s custom-made “A Milli” performance for the 2023 ESPYs above.

For more than a decade, K-pop’s global status has only grown bigger, expanding beyond charts and online streaming. As Korean artists continue to make a name for themselves with their albums and songs charting simultaneously both domestically and globally, so does the demand for the producers and songwriters behind their hits.

Justin Reinstein, a producer based out of New York, has generated his own discography of K-pop tracks he’s worked on over the last 7 years. (IVE’s “After Like,” Stray Kids’ “I am YOU,” ITZY‘s “Cheshire,” and a good number of TWICE‘s Korean and Japanese discography including their first English single “The Feels,” to name a few.) Before dipping his toes into K-pop, the East Coast producer has been involved in the music industry for eight years prior, working mostly with J-pop and some western artists. Over the pandemic, he started NuVibe Music, a production team and publishing company that primarily focuses on the Asian music market. The team consists of three other producers and topliners recruited by Justin. “I had a vision of starting a company that promoted positivity and forward-thinking creativity,” he says during the chat. “I didn’t want it to feel too business-like. All of us are good friends and work really well together.”

“I remember feeling very honored when Justin reached out,” Anna Timgren, the group’s topliner in Finland says. “He’s one of the top producers in the industry and we had a really good connection from the first song!” Anna was the second member to join NuVibe after Justin came across her pen work with Chung Ha’s “Stay Tonight.” She’s worked on LOONA’s “So What,” fromis_9’s “Stay This Way,” Viviz’s “BOP BOP!” and TWICE’s “The Feels” with Justin as well. The two disclosed they’ve worked together a year before reuniting in NuVibe, while Anna has been working in the industry for 10 years.

NuVibe’s two on-the-rise members consists of Suhyppy, a topliner from South Korea who just began working with K-pop last year and recently made her production debut with NMIXX’s “Rollercoaster,” and DTP, a producer based in England who started producing for K-pop in 2019 and joined the team two years ago.

While the K-pop hit-making collective consists of members from different sides of the world, the group works closely so often to create some of the best earworms the industry has to offer. In the midst of producing a busy summer and fall ahead, UPROXX chatted with Justin and Anna to breakdown what it takes to make a K-pop hit.

First thing’s first. How and what is the process like working with K-pop?

Justin: For me, I’ll usually get an idea for a track first. Or sometimes I’ll jam out at the piano and get a topline idea, and work around that. From there, it’s just figuring out the details. Putting together the puzzle until there are no more pieces left on the floor — if you’re putting the puzzle together on the floor. But it can definitely take some time – from the track, to vocal editing, to mixing. Actually, I like to work for just a few hours at a time, unless I’m so inspired that I just have to finish the project in one shot, then I’ll lose sleep for the sake of the craft. Or, unless there’s a deadline of course.

Anna: I like to really focus on creating the best melodies possible for the song. I won’t move on to recording until all of the sections feel 100% there. I usually give the topline process max of 2 days, that includes writing and recording demo vocals.

Justin: Anna and I are a bit similar in that she actually writes really fast. If you’re inspired, sometimes the melody just hits you. Recording the vocals is the “work” part, for sure. Figuring out the vocal arrangements, the right vibe of the singing, that all is what ends up taking the most time on the toplining side.

What’s the most important thing when it comes to producing a K-pop song in your opinion?

Justin: I pretty much look at it like producing any other song. The track has to groove. There has to be great sound selection. It’s gotta feel alive. And then on the technical side, I like to try to come up with moments that make you go “whoa.” Reverb automation is one of my favorite tricks to deploy.

How about the pitching process?

Justin: We’ll send the songs out to our contacts at labels, or other pitching partners in Korea. Sometimes the labels will already have an idea of the direction of a project, so we’ll send the song straight to them.

On top of working with K-pop, you all managed to work with some Korean K-pop producers as well.

Justin: I do a lot of work with Woo Min Lee “collapsedone.” We met in New York in 2018 and started working together regularly. We’ve produced a lot of TWICE, fromis_9 and other acts together.

Anna: I work with several producers and enjoy the diversity. It keeps things interesting!

Any culture shock moments working with the Korean music industry compared to western music?

Justin: Just the fact that I could get into my zone with jazzy chord changes. I love how widely accepted beautiful chord changes are in K-pop. There’s a lot you can do there and make it sound modern.

Anna: To me, K-Pop is a very melodically free genre. I really enjoy challenging myself because the groups have multiple singers and sometimes have rappers. So as a songwriter, I have to be able to write and sing (and sometimes rap) parts that fit the idols

Any obstacles or struggles you face working with K-pop? Such as time differences? Language barriers? Too many members? Deadlines?

Justin: You definitely have to be on call almost all the time. Being in New York, I’m getting e-mails when I’m going to sleep, and right as I wake up. We’re super grateful to be busy, though sometimes it’s good to turn your phone on silent and recharge the batteries. Literally, and figuratively.

Anna: I’m happy to be in Europe, I usually get a quiet morning until Justin wakes up haha!

How often do you have to travel or meet with artists in person? Or has it been all remote?

Justin: The majority of the time we work remotely, but now that the pandemic’s subsided, I think we’re aiming to visit Korea 2-3 times per year. It’s always great connecting with the kind folks that work at the labels, our songwriter friends, and of course if we get the opportunity to meet artists, that’s always a blast.

Anna: Yeah, I mostly work remotely, but I also do songwriting camps here in Europe from time to time.

You’ve worked with so many artists. What’s your most prized track or album then?

Anna: The song of my life is definitely “The Feels” by TWICE. I’m so happy that one of the first songs me and Justin, along with Justin’s regular collaborator collapsedone, made together ended up being such a big song!

Justin: I agree, that one is really special. I also love one of our latest releases “What I Want” by fromis_9. Anna and I worked hard and developed an interesting sound that we were exploring at the time. It was so rewarding when the label believed in our vision. It goes to show that you should always follow your gut when it comes to trying something a little left field, creatively.

What was the moment when you realized you’ve gained success in your work.

Justin: It’s a never ending journey. I still feel like we’re striving for success.

Anna: I agree, well said Justin. High five!

Dream collaboration or project.

Anna: Ahh there are so many great artists that we’d like to collaborate with. aespa, LE SSERAFIM, Red Velvet, NCT to name a few. But we don’t think too much about that, what drives us is the desire to create what we’re feeling at the time.

Justin: I agree. If we love the song as we’re creating it, we have faith that some A&R is gonna love the song eventually. It’s always a thrill when the labels take interest in songs that we create just because we felt like creating.

What’s one thing about this profession you wish you could tell others that you haven’t had the chance to tell?

Justin: If you’re a new writer, I’d suggest focusing on building with other new writers. If you aim straight for the top, oftentimes (but not all the time) those more established writers already have their set collaborators, and won’t be as likely to agree to a collab. When you build with other people who are on the same level, you can learn & grow together.

Anna: Yeah, I totally agree. Building your own relationships and finding your own connections and growing together with people is the most important thing, in my opinion. It’s not always easy, but we shouldn’t forget the reason why we do this: the love of music. That’s what’s gonna keep us going even in the hard times.

Finally. What makes K-pop pop?

Anna: I think the reason why K-pop is so popular is the mix of refreshing sounds and melodies combined with great dancing and performances.

Justin: Definitely. It’s something fresh and new for the world. It’s infectious.

It seems like it’s been a long, long time since Chicago rapper/poet Noname put out a new song. However, the wait will soon come to an end, as the outspoken MC has announced the release date for her next single. It’s called “Balloons,” it features New Orleans rapper Jay Electronica and Detroit singer Eryn Allen Kane, and it’s due on July 21.

The track constitutes Noname’s first new single since 2021 when she released “Rainforest” without much fanfare. Prior to that, her last release was the fiery “Song 33,” her June 2020 response to J. Cole’s “Snow On The Bluff,” which criticized an unnamed commenter for shutting down questions online. Fans interpreted the song as a shot at Noname, and after the hype died down, it seemed that the Chicago rapper was exhausted by the scrutiny.

She announced that she was canceling her album Factory Baby in December 2021 to focus on her activism — namely the Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles — but after taking a few months away opted to return the stage at Afropunk in 2022. Then, this April, she told fans, “My new album is called Sundial. It will be released in July 2023. Thank you for everything.”

It looks like Noname’s aiming for a late-July release for the album if she’s releasing a single next week. Fingers crossed.

It was revealed earlier this month that Billie Eilish has a new song for the Barbie movie, and today (July 13), the track, “What Was I Made For?,” has been released.

Press materials note of the emotional piano ballad, “The intimate and heart-rending track exists as the sonic background for pivotal scenes throughout the film, while beautifully and poignantly highlighting the film’s important message and sentiment.”

The song arrives alongside an Eilish-directed video, in which she sets up a doll clothes wardrobe before a sudden burst of rain ruins everything.

On Instagram, Eilish wrote of the song and video, “in january greta [Gerwig] showed me and finneas a handful of some unfinished scenes from the film; we had nooooo idea what to expect at ALLL… we were so deeeeeply moved.. that the next day we were writing and COULDNT shut up about it lolll andddddddddd ended up writing almost the entire song that night. to be real with you this all seemed to happen in a time when i really needed it. i’m so so thankful for that. this video makes me cryyyyy.. it means so much to me and i hope it will mean just as much to you. don’t have much to say other than that, i think it will speak for itself[heart emoji] :’’’’) enjoy.”

Eilish previously indicated the track would be a tearjerker when she wrote on Instagram, “WE MADE THIS SONG FOR BARBIE AND IT MEANS THE ABSOLUTE WORRRRLLLD TO ME. THIS MOVIE IS GONNA CHANGE UR LIVES AND HOPEFULLY THE SONG WILL TOO. GET READY TO SOB @FINNEAS.”

Listen to “What Was I Made For?” above.

Ghislaine Maxwell has filed over 400 complaints against her fellow inmates since beginning her 20-year prison sentence for being an accomplice to sex creep Jeffrey Epstein, earning her the nickname “Prison Karen.” Her latest instance of being a snitch came against her bunkmate, a “heavily-tattooed inmate nicknamed Batman,” who Maxwell complained left their boxers and socks over the metal rungs of the bed to dry.

The Daily Mail reports that “their bickering turned even more bitter when Batman started sneaking a prison girlfriend back to the 5ft by 8ft living space after the low-security Florida lockup’s nightly 9 p.m. headcount.”

An insider had a first-hand account of what went down. “The cubes don’t have doors like regular cells so Batman’s girl would just creep in and climb up to the top bunk,” the source told the British publication. “[Ghislaine] would hear every grunt and moan as she was trying to sleep just a few feet below. The beds aren’t bolted down and they can rock from side to side and make a lot of noise.” The insider added, “Max and Batman weren’t getting along because of the underwear thing so this was the final straw. Inmates aren’t allowed to have sex so she went and reported Batman to the unit’s case manager.”

Batman was moved to a different cell, but things didn’t work out with the replacement (the Joker?) who did not appreciate Maxwell stinking up the joint.

The newcomer quickly kicked off about avid jogger Maxwell failing to take showers and stinking out their cramped living quarters with her sweaty sneakers.

“Maxwell would come straight off the running track and not wash. It’s something you often see with sex offenders, they are worried about being attacked in the shower,” added our source. “Eventually they had a huge argument – this time over a clothes hanger – and it got so heated that the new bunkie threatened to beat Max with a padlock. Of course, Max complained, and this girl was also removed.

The insider added, “Max seems to think she will eventually get a cube all to herself if she keeps stirring up trouble.” A convicted sex trafficker stirring up trouble by snitching on her inmates? This should end well.

(Via the Daily Mail)

Vladimir Putin’s ego regularly gets boosted by Russian State TV, but apparently, that’s no longer good enough. Gone are the days when he could go shirtless horseback riding and then have his butt kissed, as one of his underlings previously discussed, while being called a “superman.” And with Russia essentially in financial tatters and Putin no closer to winning his war on Ukraine, the dude presumably could use a pick-me-up.

He was not going to receive any head pats (or on-demand removals of Russia-Ukraine war articles) from Wikipedia, obviously, but Putin can now surf the next best thing while being too manly to hide in a bunker. A damn-near clone of Wikipedia (actually called “Ruwiki”) now exists, and this one will gladly omit articles that Putin wouldn’t like. That includes mentions of the Ukraine invasion, although the Telegraph notes that the vast majority is flat-out cut-and-pasted from regular old Russian Wikipedia. Business Insider also summarizes the major difference, which is the complete non-mention of anything that paints Putin in a negative light:

The “criticism” section of Ruwiki’s page on Putin — one that runs roughly 2,500 words on Russian Wikipedia — has been truncated to a few paragraphs, while retaining some sympathetic comments from a US academic.

And while there is no page on Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there is one using the Kremlin-approved term “special military operation.”

Ruwiki’s page on Ukraine makes no mention of the war.

The new wiki-esque site is run by Vladimir Medeyko, who previously worked for Wikipedia. Medeyeko, according to the Telegraph, founded the site with the intention of adhering to Russia’s “draconian” laws concerning media coverage of the president. In other words, the resulting vibe might be like Russian State TV in text form.

Well, now we know even more about why (beyond allegedly extreme paranoia) Putin stopped surfing the internet. Now, he can read it on a cell phone (which he also reportedly avoids doing) and (again) pretend that he’s a big, virile man, like he never invaded Ukraine to prove anything.

(Via Business Insider, Telegraph & Bloomberg)

Dr. Dre presents as someone who does what he wants and only what he wants. That wasn’t always the case in the early 1990s. The former N.W.A. member discussed the surprising origin story of his seminal solo album, The Chronic, during an episode of Kevin Hart’s Hart To Heart on Peacock.

“Money and business got involved, and it separated the friendship,” Dre said of N.W.A.’s breakup in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard. “I had to separate myself from [Eazy-E] because he decided to take a different route. [Ice] Cube had already left, so I’m out here on my own. I have absolutely no idea what the f*ck I’m gonna do. I just know I have this talent.”

He added, “A close friend of mine — we’ll call him D.O.C. — talked me into doing The Chronic album. It wasn’t my decision. I was talked into doing that. I just went in there and went for it because I felt, at that time, it was a life-or-death situation. […] Back is against the wall. Life-or-death situation. This record is gonna determine whether I’m gonna stay in the studio or not.”

Dr. Dre’s The Chronic recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and he was planning on ringing in 30 years of Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle with Snoop at the Hollywood Bowl last month, but the rap legends decided to postpone the production in solidarity with the ongoing Writers Guild Of America strike.