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There’s not much to Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s “Babies & Fools” video, just the Alchemist produced beat, Freddie Gibbs and guest rapper Conway The Machine hanging out at the strip club, and some grainy footage of twerking dancers that looks like it was shot on an old camcorder. To be fair, like the stripped-down style of Freddie and Alchemist’s Alfredo album that the single lives on, it’s more than enough to get the point across.

Way back in May of this year — seems like 100 years ago, doesn’t it? — Freddie and Alchemist teased the first single from their upcoming joint album, “1985” featuring Rick Ross. The release caused quite the stir in underground rap fan circles, as did the Rick Ross-featuring “Scottie Beam” video after the project’s initial release. Freddie then tapped Conway’s Griselda Records compatriot Benny The Butcher for a Miami boat cruise in their “Frank Lucas” video, proving that the 10-song set had a lot of legs, despite its simplicity. Sometimes, all you need is a rapper, a producer, and a handful of guests with “Something To Rap About” to have one of the more prolific projects in any given situation.

Watch Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist, and Conway The Machine’s “Babies & Fools” video above.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Megan Thee Stallion has received a lot of sympathy after being shot by Tory Lanez, but there are those who continue to defend Lanez. Now, Meg has addressed those people, expressing her confusion at the situation.

Today, Meg tweeted, “People wish I was the ‘bad guy’ so bad it’s weird,” followed by laughing and crying emojis. She then retweeted a fan who replied, “For no mf reason !!”

This comes a couple days after Meg responded to a Twitter user who posted, “If @theestallion is taking advantage of this #PROTECTBLACKWOMEN and pandering, she gonna lose a lot of fans when the facts comes out.” Meg wrote, “This is exactly the type of dumb comment that makes me scream PROTECT BLACK WOMEN. Please tell me why I would need to lie abt being shot to promote the protection of women… like out of all the things to lie about … this is sad coming out of a BLACK MAN’S MOUTH.”

She also just penned a New York Times op-ed in which she addressed the shooting, saying, “I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man. After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him. We were not in a relationship. Truthfully, I was shocked that I ended up in that place. My initial silence about what happened was out of fear for myself and my friends. Even as a victim, I have been met with skepticism and judgment. The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted.”

Hailing from Landover, Maryland, 23-year-old rapper Black Fortune brings his buzzing melodic sound to Uproxx Studios for a passionate performance of his new song “Slime In My Genes” from his June mixtape OsshLord.

After dropping his debut mixtape OsshRock in 2018, Fortune saw his profile jump in prominence as single “OsshWop” racked up streams, including 1 million views on YouTube. Since then, he’s begun to receive high-profile co-signs from the likes of Diddy, SZA, and Travis Scott, re-releasing OsshRock to capitalize on the new attention.

He followed up this summer with OsshLord, a 16-track effort that put his sing-song style on display and featured burgeoning Brooklyn star Fivio Foreign. With his buzz growing, Black Fortune is bringing a unique take on the DMV style to the world with songs like “Bankrupt” and “Slime In My Genes.”

Watch Black Fortune Perform “Slime In My Genes” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too..

Black Fortune is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

C’mon, Hubie Halloween wasn’t that bad: Boston news anchor Alaina Pinto was fired by WHDH Channel 7 News for making a cameo in Adam Sandler’s hit horror-comedy. It had nothing to do with the quality of the Netflix movie, however (Boston prides itself on making only the finest films). Pinto lost her job for “mistakenly [violating] my contract.”

“Earlier this week I was let go from 7 News. I am posting this because I want to be open and honest with all of you. Last year, I participated in a cameo in the recently released Netflix movie by Adam Sandler, Hubie Halloween. In doing so, I mistakenly violated my contract with the station and I understand why management unfortunately chose to terminate me. I am deeply disappointed and saddened, and I hoped this would not be how things evolved,” Pinto tweeted. She has a small role in Hubie as a morning news anchor who dresses up as Harley Quinn on Halloween, as do her female co-workers.

Pinto added, “Thanks to all my wonderful 7 News viewers and my supportive and great colleagues at the station. Reporting the news to you every morning was an honor and a privilege. I promise to stay in touch and keep you updated on the next chapter – the future is bright!” This sucks and she could keep her job, but at least she has a very good IMDb.

Not many people can claim they were in Hubie Halloween. Alaina Pinto can.

(Via EW)

A couple weeks ago, Nicki Minaj entered motherhood with the birth of her first child. In the days since having her son, she has received a number of gifts from some of her famous friends.

This afternoon, Minaj shared photos of congratulatory cards she received from Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and others. She wrote on Instagram, “Thank you to Queen B, Kim & Ye, Riccardo Tisci, Winnie, Karol & everyone who sent well wishes during this time. It meant the world to me. I am so grateful & in love with my son. Madly in love. My favorite liddo boy in the whole wide world.”

Beyonce addressed her card to Onika (Nicki’s legal name) and wrote, “Welcome to motherhood. God bless you and your family.” Kim and Kanye wrote simply, “Congrats! We love you!”

Speaking of kids, an adorable video of Minaj as a kid surfaced recently. The video appears to be from a TV broadcast, and she says to the camera, “I would like to be a nurse when I grow up so that I could help people less fortunate than I am.” Meanwhile, there’s speculation that she could be collaborating with Cardi B soon, which would surely leave her fan base absolutely shook.

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

The best new hip-hop albums coming out this week include projects from Benny The Butcher, Black Thought, Chuck Strangers, Open Mike Eagle, Price, Preme & Popcaan, Rexx Life Raj, Serial Killers, T.I., and WizKid.

Take a deep breath and fasten your seatbelts, this week is so jam-packed with releases that you may need another week to get through them all.

Here are all the best new hip-hop albums coming out this week.

Benny The Butcher — Burden Of Proof

The Griselda Gang keeps trucking. This time, Benny — the quietest of the bunch in 2020 so far — links up with Hit-Boy, who just completed an album with Nas, to release what is (in my opinion) the exclamation point on the Buffalo boys’ year.

Black Thought — Streams Of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane And Able [EP]

The Roots frontman and master rap-tician had to put the third edition of his acclaimed EP series on pause due to the pandemic but knowing him, it’ll be well worth the wait.

Chuck Strangers — Too Afraid To Dance [EP]

Pro Era’s non-Joey Badass members have been slowly but surely carving out an impressive space for themselves on the New York underground scene and Chuck is the latest member to drop as well as the only one to offer up new material in 2020 (aside from Joey’s two singles earlier this year).

Open Mike Eagle — Anime, Trauma And Divorce

Following up 2017’s conceptual Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, the art-rap linchpin returns with a deeply personal rumination on, well, trauma, shot through with tongue-in-cheek references to wrestling, video games, and yes, anime to lighten the burden.

Price — CLRD. [EP]

Audio Push has quietly been producing some of the West Coast’s strongest independent releases over the past few years. Now, the duo’s members are making their first forays into solo work (not including Oktane’s run of 2011 freestyles that proved the group had shifted gears from jerking to straight-up rap). This one might be my favorite release of the week — although, I’ve been known to be biased in the past.

Preme and Popcaan — Link Up

Canada’s Preme *cough cough* links up with Jamaica’s Popcaan for a refreshing take on dancehall that bridges the diasporic gap between the two West Indian enclaves. The OVO-Unruly connection remains strong.

Serial Killers (B-Real, Demrick, And Xzibit) — Summer Of Sam

When this one popped up in my email, eyebrows were certainly raised, since their last release was two years ago. If you think hip-hop has too much singing in it, isn’t menacing enough, doesn’t quite suit your gym mix, this one is for you. Wall-to-wall bars over beats that wouldn’t have been out of place in the late ’90s, all delivered by some of rap’s most respected pioneers.

T.I. — The L.I.B.R.A.

Trap music has come a long way since T.I.’s coined the phrase a decade and a half ago but somehow, he’s managed to keep up with every twist, turn, and evolution to remain one of the genre’s most respected stalwarts. Two years removed from Dime Trap, T.I. has gone independent to bring his 11th project, which features Young Thug, Lil Baby, and more.

WizKid — Made In Lagos

As Nigeria takes the spotlight of world news as the latest epicenter of the fight against police authoritarianism and abuse, Wizkid has been using his platform to demand the end of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in his home country, all while prepping the release of his highly anticipated follow-up to 2017’s Sounds from the Other Side.

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

It’s a well-known standard of etiquette that you don’t upstage a bride at her wedding. You should dress up and look nice, but not fancier than the bride. And you certainly shouldn’t draw attention to yourself with a big announcement, taking the attention away from the big day and turning it onto yourself.

But what if the bride does that for you?

A video shared by @_BlackCouples and reshared by @RexChapman starts with a bride with her back to her line of bridesmaids, preparing to toss the bouquet. Traditionally, the woman who catches the bouquet is supposed to be the next one to tie the knot. But as this bride is about to toss the flowers, she stops.

Then she turns around, shakes her head, and starts walking toward one of her bridesmaids.

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The bridesmaid clearly has no idea what’s going on, and when the bride hands her the bouquet she just giggles. Then the bride spins her around to her boyfriend, who is down on one knee, holding up a ring. Aw, dang.

The joy of the whole wedding party is palpable as the bridesmaid squeals and then starts to cry. Her boyfriend’s grin could not be wider, and the bride herself is beaming behind her friend.

Some people commented on the video saying they’d be upset if a friend stole their thunder with a stunt like that on their big day, but it’s clear that the bride was 100% in on it. It’s not like she was taken by surprise, which would have been tacky. There are stories of clueless people staging their own big moment during someone’s wedding reception, and such stories are always super cringey.

But this wasn’t that. This looks like a beautiful group of friends sharing not just one, but two very special events in their lives at the same time. The bride selflessly shared the spotlight on her big day, and in doing so got to play a significant role in someone else’s love story as well—someone that she clearly cares a lot about to want to surprise her like that at such an iconic moment.

The video clearly hit people right in their soft spots, perhaps especially right now when so many of us have had to miss out on attending our loved ones’ weddings. It’s not clear when this wedding took place, but it’s presumably from before the pandemic. These are the kinds of moments we long to see again, when we can safely hold big gatherings, when don’t have to wear masks and mentally measure six feet constantly, when we can hug our loved ones with wild abandon.

Until that normalcy returns, we’ll just have to live vicariously through these kinds of inspiring, feel-good videos.

Starting with The Last Dance and throughout this entire summer of NBA basketball, the debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan has been constant. Now that James has won his fourth championship, fans and Hall of Famers alike are hashing it out again. Magic Johnson, in a recent interview with John Lynch of Business Insider, explained why James still has a chance to retire as the greatest ever.

Asked how he viewed James’ accomplishments in the Bubble, here’s what Magic said:

I view it as a man who, that’s why he’s where he is. In terms of winning now four championships and dominating basketball at a tender age of what, 35, I think it is. For him, to me, to be the best basketball player still in the world.

Also, he should have been the MVP of the league during the season. He was MVP of the NBA Finals. I mean, his taking care of his body, his focus, his drive, his will, is off the charts. He’s a throwback. That’s why he’s in that G.O.A.T. conversation.

And he can move forward. As he keeps winning, he will climb that ladder. There’s already talk about, you know, comparing him and Michael, and there will be serious talk if he wins another one. It’s going to be hard. Fans are really going to be pushing for him to be right up there with Michael.

As Magic notes, what makes James’ case so interesting is that he’s still capable of adding some significant accomplishments to his resume, namely a fifth (or possibly sixth) title to move even closer to Jordan. Along with that, part of why Magic seems to be so impressed with James’ performance this year is because of the challenges this season posed. On that note, Magic expanded upon why the Bubble was a unique difficulty compared with normal seasons.

More from Magic:

Yeah, the play was amazing. Listen, guys had to sacrifice so much. First of all, they had to leave their families at home. Then they had to eat things that they normally was not accustomed to eating. They didn’t get to eat what they wanted. So all these things happened in that bubble. And so for them to come and play the way they played and the way they performed. Nah, man, it wasn’t pickup basketball. That was sensational basketball. You know, for the circumstances that they played under. For them to come ready to play each and every night. Hats off to every single team and every single player.

It’s hard to argue that in a postseason where many superstars underperformed and success seemed to be predicated upon focus, force of will, and team chemistry, that we may one day look back like Magic at this Bubble as an even more special achievement for James than normal.

Ty Lue will become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, replacing Doc Rivers after serving as Rivers’ lead assistant this season, according to a new report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Lue, who had reportedly been among the front-runners since the Clippers parted ways with Rivers in late September, will receive a five-year contract from the team.

The deal will give Lue security into the future even as the Clippers aim to nail down long-term commitments from superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George after a disappointing second-round playoff loss. Lue’s task will be to shore up a team that reportedly suffered from turmoil all season long and severely underperformed in the NBA Bubble this summer.

Lue also is now off the board for Houston and New Orleans, who had both expressed significant interest in him in recent days. While Lue takes over the top seat on the Clippers’ coaching staff, he will bring with him newly signed lead assistant Chauncey Billups, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Billups had been a candidate for head coaching positions around the league as well this offseason.

Los Angeles heads into an offseason still among the favorites for the 2021 NBA championship and has now added an experienced head coach in Lue who has championship pedigree and the ability, like Rivers and Billups, to connect with players as a former NBA contributor himself.

Drake is indisputably one of the most influential artists of the past decade. His mixtape So Far Gone and the resulting deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Records (not to mention, the million-dollar bidding war for his services) helped change the way artists make music and labels do business for an entire generation after him. However, his influence apparently goes deeper than many of us knew, as revealed by his longtime production partner Noah “40” Shebib, who appeared recently on Kevin Durant‘s new podcast The ETCs.

While talking about Drake’s influence on the music business, 40 shared the details of a conversation he recently had with Travis Scott, who credited 40 and Drake for not only inspiring him musically but also giving him the blueprint to begin recording via their blog, OctobersVeryOwn.net. “Travis Scott told me this story one time when I first met him,” 40 elaborates. “He was like, ’40, man. You did this post on the OVO blog about all you need is this microphone and an interface and a shitty laptop and you can get it done…’ And he was like, ‘Man, you posted that and I went and I showed it to my mom and I told her yo, you gotta buy this mic and we gotta buy this and that. Trust me, this is all I need. I begged her for it and she bought it for me.’”

Years later, Drake would repay the “favor” by appearing with Travis Scott on “Sicko Mode” and helping him secure his first No. 1 placement on the Hot 100. Meanwhile, 40 also told Durant why Drake doesn’t worry about cost when he requests a sample from his producers, the city of Toronto, and why 40 stopped accepting work from other artists.

You can listen to The ETCs (which also features former Uproxx writer Eddie Gonzalez) here.