A couple of years ago, NBA star Kevin Durant produced a documentary called Basketball County: In The Water, highlighting the hoop talent in his hometown, Prince George’s County in Maryland. And while the purpose of the doc was to plug local basketball stars, the film’s choice of music supervisor IDK and the soundtrack he created highlighted just how much music talent comes from the DMV area, as well.
IDK continues to put on for his hometown in his new single, “Prince George,” which features fellow PG County native, Cordae. The two rappers trade wordy verses over a jazzy beat, lamenting their loneliness but flexing their successes. Meanwhile, in the video for the single, Cordae and IDK roam an Italian city (heh), with shots of ancient ruins and gorgeous architecture juxtaposed alongside imagery of the Capitol buildings that were inspired by them. Throughout, black-and-white footage captures visions of other famous PG residents, contrasting them to scenes of violence and conflict.
It’s a pretty big day for PG County overall; Rico Nasty, who has collaborated with IDK, released her NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert today, and Wale, arguably the county’s foremost hip-hop pioneer, also dropped a new single, “CRG Freestyle.”
Watch IDK’s “Prince George” video featuring Cordae above.
Considering Rico Nasty hails from Prince George’s County, just a few miles away from NPR Music’s DC headquarters, it’s kind of shocking she hasn’t done a Tiny Desk Concert until now. She certainly makes up for the lost time, rocking out through a set made up mostly of selections from her new album, Lethal, including lead single “Teethsucker,” “Son Of A Gun,” and a sexy, stripped-down version of “On The Low.”
Of course, it just wouldn’t be a Rico Nasty show without performances of “Tia Tamera” and “Smack A Bitch,” her pre-pandemic breakout hits. Halfway through the set, the lights get low, and Rico continues in a spotlight, giving her performance a unique visual flair. An exuberant, electric performer, Rico would stand out no matter what, but in this case, she’s even more magnetic than usual, owing to her performing a hometown show. “I would not be who I am if not for the DMV,” she gushes.
Rico’s had a pretty impressive 2025 to date, making her acting debut in Apple TV’s new series Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and prepping her Lethal Tour, all while changing labels. The Sugar Trap pioneer remains a badass.
Watch Rico Nasty’s NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert above.
We’ve been waiting for so long and, finally, Cardi B has announced her upcoming second album, Am I The Drama?. This is the follow-up to her classic, Grammy-winning 2018 debut, Invasion Of Privacy. To say the pressure is on for Ms. Belcalis to evade the sophomore jinx can’t be stated loudly enough. Every song from Invasion is certified platinum or higher. That’s right, all 13 songs. She’s the first female to achieve this feat.
Although we haven’t been blessed with a full body of work in recent times, Cardi has stayed active in her septennial era and continued to release music to varying levels of achievement and acceptance. Two records in particular really resonated with the general public and her insanely loyal fan base. In fact, much to the chagrin of social media music detractors, Cardi has decided that these older tunes will also be included on Drama, whether you like it or not, tweeting recently:
“This will be the last and only time I’m gonna address this.. WAP and Up are two of my biggest songs, my fans have been asking me to put them on an album, and people search for them on IOP all the time… they deserve a home.. I let haters make me not submit WAP for the Grammy’s and at this point I’m giving my fans what they want! These two songs don’t even count for first week sales so what are yall even crying about??? Do ya say anything when all these artist pull out all their little tricks and ponies to sell out??? Exactly….Now let them eat cake. Go cry about it!!!”
Good call, Bardi.
To take it further, I think the post-Invasion Cardi output has been gravely underappreciated. The following is a collection of a few of her infectious standalone singles and some of her scene-stealing guest appearances. Here are my seven favorite Cardi songs since she first shook up the rap world.
The I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy era has been kind to Teddy Swims: “Lose Control” was his first No. 1 single, while I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) was his first top-5 album. Now Swims is putting a bow on the era with today’s (June 27) release of I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition).
The release features all the songs from 2023’s I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) and this year’s Part 2, as well as six new ones, like the recent “God Went Crazy.”
Listen to one of the new songs, “Need You More,” above and find the I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition) tracklist below.
Teddy Swims’ I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition) Tracklist
1. “Need You More”
2. “God Went Crazy”
3. “Free Drugs”
4. “Small Hands” Feat. Raiche
5. “Dancing With Your Ghost”
6. “All Gas No Brakes” Feat. BigXthaPlug
7. “Not Your Man”
8. “Funeral”
9. “Your Kind Of Crazy”
10. “Bad Dreams”
11. “Are You Even Real” Feat. Giveon
12. “Black & White” Feat. Muni Long
13. “Northern Lights”
14. “Guilty”
15. “It Ain’t Easy”
16. “If You Ever Change Your Mind”
17. “She Got It” Feat. Coco Jones and Glorilla
18. “Hammer To The Heart”
19. “She Loves The Rain”
20. “Apple Juice”
21. “Tell Me”
22. “Growing Up Is Getting Old”
23. “Some Things I’ll Never Know”
24. “Lose Control”
25. “What More Can I Say”
26. “The Door”
27. “Goodbye’s Been Good To You”
28. “Last Communion”
29. “You Still Get To Me”
30. “Suitcase”
31. “Flame”
32. “Evergreen”
I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition) is out now via Warner. Find more information here.
For the past decade, masked rapper Leikeli47 has been one of the most pioneering voices in hip-hop. Her music combining a spectrum of influences that, at times, seem polar opposites; ballroom and yardie culture would seem to be natural enemies, but Leikeli blended them as easily as breathing.
Last year, the East Coast nomad shocked the world by taking off her mask in the video for “450,” as she revealed the tracklist for her first album in two years, Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only.
On the new album, Leikeli47 again honors a diverse swath of Black music history while creating a futuristic sound unlike anything listeners have heard before. While she had always dipped into EDM influences as smoothly as soulful R&B, here, she goes even deeper and wider, connecting disparate eras and genres of Black music in her quest to present herself as an inspiration to all listeners to trust in themselves and embrace who they are.
It’s been a few years since Uproxx last connected with Leikeli, but talking about her new album, it was like not a day had passed. And, just as in her music, she couldn’t help but give praise to her influences.
I’ve been wanting to ask you about the title of this album, Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only. That is not only a mouthful, but clearly, undoubtedly very special to you. If you could just run down where that album title came from and what makes it so special to you.
Absolutely. Well, one, like I said, thank you, and two, I have a duty to innovate on me. When I say on me, I truly mean on me. So, Lei Keli ft. 47, I wanted to break up the purpose because I also want to make it very clear nothing about Lei Keli or 47 is a persona. This is purpose. I don’t deal in persona, I deal in purpose.
47 is the protector, man. I had to deal with the hardships, the ins and outs, the doubts. Can I, will I, am I good enough? Do I belong? And them coming together with that, that’s how I was able to build my own industry and my own world in the midst of what was going on. So, I never felt like I belonged, but at the same time, it wasn’t a thing that scared me. I actually welcomed it and I rushed to it. I also know and knew from the jump that I would never be for sale. I’m here of service, hence “for promotional use only.”
Absolutely. I actually have been living with this album for, I want to say, close to a year I think.
Yeah, you had it for a while.
It’s steeped in tradition, and it’s innovative at the same time, which reminds me very much of someone like Missy Elliott, where she would take the sounds that she grew up on, but she would also make stuff that still sounds futuristic 20 years after she made it. What were some of the traditions you drew from? How did you get involved in those traditions? I know we’ve talked before about how you were very big into ballroom culture, very big into EDM and house and very big into bashment, island culture.
Right. If I could be all honest, it’s all God, no typo, not a piece of a typo, again G-O-D. It was nothing that I could… How can I say it? I just know that I woke up one day, and it just was what it was. I’ve never not known this. I’ve never not known creating from nothing. I’ve never not known sound. I’ve never not seen sound. I’ve never not tasted sound.
So, I’m a church kid. I was blessed to grow up around my grannies. I was blessed to have to be raised by my great-grandparents and my grandparents. Then, of course, I was a kid in the street. I am just a girl from the hood. That was my playground and that was my inspiration.
But each and every couch, each and every pallet I stayed on, each and every cousin, auntie, friend, there was always something that was in that house that inspired me, be it a story being something, be it something I seen, be it something I heard. Even in the midst of our struggle, there was always Marvin, there was always Mary, there was always Luther. You got a little Bon Jovi here. You’re shaking it up, and there’s jazz over here. Then you turn around and you have things like Sesame Street, which PBS was free for kids like myself.
I’m proud of myself for not asking so early in the interview, but I do have to ask.
Come on.
Obviously, the biggest change for anybody who’s been a long time follower of the story is the fact that we now know what you look like. Was there any apprehension in taking away something that was so fundamental, so foundational to your… perception, to your brand, to people’s understanding of you? How did you overcome that apprehension? What did you learn about yourself in doing that, and what have been some of the changes that you’ve experienced as a result?
To answer your question, absolutely not. There was no apprehension, none. We went through a pandemic and this and that, and then of course, I’m not the most social media type person or whatever. Oddly enough, people think if you’re not on social media, you’re not living. Dumb.
But before it came off of you guys, it was already off for me. I just couldn’t wait to get to it. But there was no apprehension at all. I was so ready because as we spoke about, 47 is not a persona. It was my purpose. I would say this, I’ve always taken people as a case-by-case individual. That’s how I look at people. But being in that mask game, out of that mask, that was one of the main things that I learned to just really hold onto is that everyone is not the same. You have to take individuals by who they are as that individual and to also continue to live your life unafraid.
For that, I need to be right there for them. I need to be right there for them. If I’m not following my purpose, I’m being irresponsible. I just hope that with the way that I move, for those who do watch it, follow suit, man. I am not saying I’m perfect, but in that area right there, don’t listen to what others are saying. Don’t look at numbers, don’t look at no algorithms. Start, start, and don’t stop.
What’s the story behind “Passenger 47” and the “boing” sound that you put in there? I’m kind of obsessed with it.
It’s the mindset of elevation. When you think of a spring, it boings, it goes up. When you think of a Boeing plane, it goes up. When you think of any plane, it goes up. So, I just wanted to play off. So, that’s why even when you read the lyrics, I wrote Boeing plane, and then I also wrote “boing, boing” like the spring to let you know that in every way, elevate. In every way, just see yourself going up.
So, I know on the previous albums where you were doing the ballroom stuff, you were doing the house stuff. I’ve heard tons of artists using house music, dance, music, techno. You’re probably the first artist I’ve heard right around “Soft Serve,” “Sandhills,” those two, right? I’m trying to think of the name of the genre. It’s not dark house, but it’s very aggressive. There’s something in the earth trying to get out. What made you want to go in that direction?
Yeah, it just happened, man. But I will say once I started writing it and I started going and it was actually one of my most fun songs to write because of the play on words. So, “Soft Serve” and ballroom, of course, it’s an action. It’s a movement. It’s a way of being soft and feminine and that whole thing or whatever. But then there’s that. Of course, there’s the ice cream element of it. It was just such a fun way to create and mesh these worlds and play on these words and elevate the dance community, elevate ballroom community and people in their confidence by playing off of ice cream.
Because that word “serve” is so strong, especially in ballroom. In ballroom, you come to serve and in femininity, we want to be our most soft and prettiest, and it is what it is. But to say, “find a cone, this is war” in a song and say, “come get on this floor.” I don’t know how I did it. I don’t know. I don’t know.
I have a responsibility to make sure I come from the most purest form because if I can be all the way honest with it, as much as I’m accepted and loved and people know me for that sound and that world, because again, I do come from it authentically. It’s still not my real my world, it’s not mine. So, I have a responsibility for whenever I am blessed to be able to curate sounds from that space to do it as gritty and as hard.
I want every time you hear anything that’s reminiscent or that takes you to ballroom culture, you think of the Sinais, you think of ballroom classic videos by Caesar on YouTube and you think about going to $3 Bill and Open to Wall and you think about Cotton and Coffee and Khaliq and Art Toro. You think about these legends, Naomi and Sean Wesley.
Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only is out now via Acrylic/Hardcover and Thirty Tigers.
Earlier this month, there were rumors flying around that Lorde was gearing up to play a surprise set at this year’s Glastonbury festival. The chatter was so intense that Lorde was asked about it in an interview, and she said, “You know… I’m pretty keen, honestly. I feel like… ’cause the album’s gonna be coming out right around that time. […] I am quite tempted by what’s going on because I’ve got lots of friends playing as well. We’ll see, we’ll see if I can pull some strings and get there.”
It turns out Lorde wasn’t kidding (or the performance was already in place and she was being coy): At Glasto today (June 27), Lorde indeed played a surprise set. Given that her new album Virgin is out today, she performed the whole thing, front to back, before wrapping her set up with a couple of classics: “Ribs” and “Green Light.” Since Lorde hadn’t yet done any performances in support of the album, the set featured the live debut of every Virgin song. Here she is performing “Hammer” and here’s “What Was That.”
Steven and Ian begin with a conversation about Virgin, the new album by Lorde out today. Judging by the singles, it’s not clear if this is going to be the comeback she needs. They also talked about Guitar, the new album just announced by Mac DeMarco, his first “proper” record of songs in years.
Then they pivoted to a conversation about the weird state of music in 2025, which already seems like a weaker year than 2024, before they each listed their five favorite releases of the past six months.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 243 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
BigXthaPlug and Shaboozey have done it again. Building on the chemistry they built from their collaboration on Shaboozey’s “Drink Don’t Need No Mix,” they once again team up for another rap-country anthem in “Home.” The two Southern genre benders tackle one of both categories’ favorite topics: the open road, and just how good it feels when the pavement points in the direction of the place you hang your hat.
“I’ve been lost on this highway, tryna figure out life on this road,” X raps, “I lost all the love that I had in my soul, tryna chase everything that was shiny and gold / I ran away from my problems, I know now I’m stuck on this highway with nowhere to go / One day, if I call back, will I get to come home?”
Although BigX had primarily been known for the same sort of smoky Texas rap as his countrymen That Mexican OT and Maxo Kream, he’s begun experimenting with collaborating with country stars in the past year, to great effect. In April, he released the video for “All The Way” with Bailey Zimmerman, while more recently, he dropped an acoustic version of his Jessie Murph collaboration “Holy Ground.” It’s working for him, against all odds, and bringing hip-hop and country music closer together than ever before.
Renee Rapp wreaks havoc in a hotel trying to get Alexandra Shipp’s attention in her hedonistic video for “Mad,” the latest single from her upcoming album, Bite Me.
The video opens with the pair entering the hotel’s elevator in a huff, where the X-Men star determinedly ignores Rapp’s attempts to provoke a reaction. However, her attempts escalate throughout the video, leading to the total destruction of their hotel room during an unhinged party, with dishware being smashed, champagne getting spilled, and Rapp doing her best Sia impression — you know, swinging from a chandelier. It goes about as well as you’d expect, leading to a crash landing for the Mean Girls star.
Prior to “Mad,” Rapp was ready to rumble in the video for “Leave Me Alone,” the first single from Bite Me, which saw her start a sleepover fight club, where the pillows are traded in for boxing gloves, and the makeovers are done by closed fists. Rapp later announced the dates for her North American tour, on which she’ll be accompanied by Ravyn Lenae and Syd.
You can watch the hedonistic video for Renee Rap’s new single “Mad” above.
Bite Me is out 8/1 via Interscope. Find more information here.
Well, here’s a fun surprise. While waiting for news about Lizzo‘s follow-up to her 2022 album Special, fans have been given a new mixtape to hold them over until she’s ready to drop another album.
The tape is called My Face Hurts From Smiling and features 13 all-new tracks, including collaborations with Doja Cat and SZA. On the former, “Still Can’t Fuh,” Lizzo and Doja tease a would-be paramour that he can’t buy their love (or, well… y’know), while on the latter, “IRL,” SZA trade confident verses about self-love and authenticity.
SZA explained her and Lizzo’s friendship in a recent interview, characterizing the Midwestern rapper/singer as very genuine and generous. “Me and Lizzo, we’ve been friends since, like, 2013, but it was very organic and very random,” she said. “One day we were on the same tour, and I was like, ‘We’re about to drive out to Lake Michigan, do you want to come?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ And then we just got drunk and hung out, and we kept doing that, and then our lives and careers progressed, and we kept talking and hanging out. The other day, I went over to her house. My tummy was hurting because I ate too much, and she gave me a muumuu, and we just laid in the yard and did nothing, and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what the f*ck friendship is about’.”
You can listen to Lizzo’s My Face Hurts From Smiling mixtape here.
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