This past Saturday, Kendrick Lamar made his triumphant return to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. His last visit was 2017’s tour for his Pulitzer Prize-winning album, 

. Known for his clever, poetic, and sometimes acerbic lyricism, the rapper returned to Minnesota on the heels of his fifth album release, 

. He brought to the stage composed vulnerability, a wealth of symbolism, and a wildly impressive light show. Additionally, he brought along opening acts that garnered nearly as much enthusiasm from the crowd.

The first act of the night was 24-year-old Avante Ramone Santana, who performs under the name Tanna Leone. Leone was signed in March to Lamar’s pgLang, a multimedia, multi-disciplinary artist collective. After witnessing the way he commanded the large, t-shaped stage alone and whipped the crowd into a frenzy during his brief 15-minute set, there’s no wondering why Lamar scooped him up. The rapper drew an especially big reaction from the crowd to his song “Lucky” from his pgLang debut album, 

. His moody melodies over a trap beat had the crowd bouncing along as he bounded onstage in a Dickies jumpsuit, neck draped in a thick gold chain while slot machine symbols like lucky 7’s, diamonds, and doves flashed behind him.

Following Leone was Baby Keem, Lamar’s cousin. Born Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., Keem is a well-recognized rapper in his own right, as was evidenced by the crowd's reaction when he appeared onstage. At the beginning of his roughly half-hour set, there were parallels in Keem’s voice and cadence to his cousin Lamar, but as the set wore on, he settled into his groove.

Although many of his songs from the set were about women he used to date or wanted to sleep with, there were also moments of vulnerability. These were the songs that allowed Keem to emerge from behind the wall of expectation of hyper-masculine bravado perpetuated by pop culture, rap music, and often society as a whole. One such song he proclaimed his favorite off of his 2021 album, 

called “Issues,” demonstrated this. The screen behind him featured the image of a wistful-looking woman looking out of a rainy window while he was spitting bars about the troubled relationship he has with his mother, abandonment, and his struggle to not repeat the same patterns in his own life with friends. He sang over a stark, clicking beat and delicate keys, “How could I resent you? Demons, they test you,” perhaps as much to his mother as himself. Not to be too sentimental, Keem closed his set with this breakout hit with a tinkling earworm rhythm, “Orange Soda,” a raunchy and playful track about his desire for his girlfriend — and distaste for her best friend.

Thick, heady clouds of weed smoke perfumed the air before Lamar took the stage. Young adults and parents with teens made up most of the attendees on the floor, and the crowd grew antsy as a curtain dropped around the main part of the stage before Lamar’s set. The lights dimmed, and the crowd quieted as the nearly hymnal-sounding singing of the opening of “United in Grief” played. Strings were plucked while men dressed in black and women in white pinstriped suits emerged onstage, shoulders bobbing and synchronizing their claps while the curtain rose to show the stage set like the opening act of a play, alluding to the theatric, moody, and artistic performance we were about to see. 

The stage was stark and open with Kendrick seated at the piano with his back to the audience with a ventriloquist dummy perched atop looking out into the crowd. He mimed playing the keys to “United in Grief” while spitting rapid-fire lines as four dancers draped over a sofa watched nearby. They departed shortly before he walked the dummy to center stage to perform “N95,” its mouth moving, reiterating that the night ahead would be full of surreal, emotive displays while frenetic drums carried the 

It seems everything Kendrick Lamar puts out for fans to enjoy is with much thought and intention, and the 

 tour attested to this, from the dancers and the lights, to the voiceover of Helen Mirren acting as his subconscious, narrator, ego-checker, or all of the above, to even his outfit. Lamar was decked out and dapper in a black suit and a sequined glove on his left-hand ala 

 Michael Jackson. He sported jewel-encrusted sunglasses and had a gold earring dripping with diamonds firmly attached to his right ear. Although a lavish look, he kept a navy blue bandanna knotted around his neck, an acknowledgment that he keeps his Compton roots close to his heart.

Throughout the night, dancers added another layer of drama. Sometimes they were merely employed to bear witness, at others, their movements were used as tools to convey emotion. During “Mr. Morale,” they ran in place while the bass blasted, sometimes ducking or covering their faces in defensive positions. Women in drapey red mesh dresses surrounded Lamar during “Die Hard” and led him around the stage while he sang about setting his demons straight and seemed to act as personifications of his complicated feelings about love, temptation, and desire when they encircled him around a bed during “Lust.” 

Other portions of the show were equally as visually arresting as the dancers. Images on the screen behind Lamar were used to show his dreams and nightmares: angel wings, spiders, chains of bondage. Later, as Lamar crouched on stage to perform “Count Me Out,” behind him on the screen cleverly showed his shadow with arrows in his back, seemingly to convey the not-so-subtle feeling that even when he looks like he’s managing just fine externally, his shadow-self still absorbs each blow he’s dealt.

The song lineup brilliantly addressed both his internal and external struggles with “Father Time,” where he sang about his daddy issues. Immediately following, images of Compton, cars, and piles of money flashed on the screen during“m.A.A.d. city,” a throwback to the chaotic environment in which he was raised. During “Money Trees,” the shadow of palms fell across the stadium onto the crowd while live guitar added an additional gritty groove. Later, Lamar was issued a simulated COVID test by HAZMAT-suited people before performing “Alright,” then was lifted into the air on a column with reflective panels while he sang “Mirror” in the quarantine box piped full of smoke. 

 album showcases Kendrick Lamar’s deep self-reflection during the pandemic. It explores themes of intergenerational trauma and misogyny, and it pulled out thorny, intimate songs. The astounding visual storytelling and introspection presented for Saturday night’s show proved that Lamar is far from losing creative steam. At the same time, the tour certified his equal commitment to continue diving deeper into his creative self, much to the benefit of all of his fans. 

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Natalia Mendez

The Big Steppers tour brought big, theatric entertainment Saturday night.


GREG NOIRE

Kendrick Lamar makes explosive return to St. Paul

Given where she's been lately, it should come as no surprise that 

 has chosen to dispense with pleasantries on her new album. The ferocity of 

 begins with its cover, which shows her visage in an emotive triplicate reminiscent of Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound of Greek mythology. In Dante's 

, Cerberus resides in the Third Circle of Hell with the gluttons, where he "rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them." As an executioner, Megan is more precise. On the Rico Nasty collaboration "

," she renders both her lyrical and physical form as a foreboding omen for her detractors: "Say my name like Candyman, and bitch, you know I'm there / These hoes wish they saw me when they lookin' in the mirror."

Megan is also used to being the life of every party. Her bawdy, unabashed 5'10" presence quickly won her devoted followers, and as her star rose she engaged in rowdy revelry with these loyal supporters at famed roving spaces called "Hottie Parties." She was so eager to please that base — the fans who helped elevate the carnal slow-burn "Big Ole Freak," from her 2018 EP 

into her first bona fide hit — that she continued to perform as the good-time gal they had come to love even as she entered what would be the most traumatizing years of her life. Where her debut studio album, 2020's 

, clanged against the public awareness of that turmoil, 

leans into it: making space for ruminations and grief, managing the swirling emotions produced by years of acrimony and cathartically letting them rise to the surface. In reaching for a more confessional mode, she reaffirms her commitment to talking her talk. 

At her best, Megan is a lyrical virtuoso who brings motion and menace to her self-reliant songs, crafting innovative rhyme schemes that both thrill and tantalize and then coating them in her seductive Houston drawl. She bares her teeth on the opening track, "NDA," weaving in and out of Memphis producer Hitkidd's hi-hat heavy production to make mincemeat of multi-syllabics: "They take all the hate that they got for me and they market it / When they shit ain't poppin', they usin' Megan for marketing /And they ain't got enough in they budget for me to talk to them." "Ungrateful," featuring Memphis rapper Key Glock, is in conversation with her cult-favorite "

" — doubling down on the whiplashing flows of that verse, she swings her bars around the highs and lows of the melody. The ease with which Megan navigates collaborations with producers and rappers from Memphis only reinforces the strains of the one-time Three 6 Mafia member Gangsta Boo in her DNA. On "Who Me," she corrals Pooh Sheisty, another Memphis native, into form around skipping drums while she quips, "I feel like Biggie, who shot you? But everybody know who shot me, bitch." 

Trauma is cyclical, especially when you are forced to process it before the world. Megan's string of accomplishments — three Grammy wins, two chart-topping records and a college degree — has been stymied by a series of misfortunes. In 2019, her mother, a stabilizing figure in her life, died from brain cancer. An ongoing dispute with her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, has complicated her career. But most pressingly, in 2020, she was shot in an incident involving the rapper and singer Tory Lanez, and the near-constant refutation of her version of events, in both the courtroom and the court of public opinion, has been an obvious drain of her energy. In the songs of 

, she reckons with these events by probing at her own feelings, by returning to familiar haunts, and by reaffirming her skills as one of rap's bar-for-bar heavyweights.

The more introspective tracks, like "Anxiety," perform a sort of sleight of hand, expertly using upbeat production to cover darker material: "If I could write a letter to Heaven / I would tell my mama that I shoulda been listenin'/ And I would tell her sorry that I really been wildin' / And ask her to forgive me, 'cause I really been tryin'," she raps. It's a brave decision to expose her wounds, metaphorically or otherwise, as she has experienced repeated recriminations for that choice. But in this instance, she is not seeking to exonerate herself, but offering insight, showing that even one of rap's most self-confident women can be plagued by the deepest insecurities. "Not Nice" and "Plan B" dispense with the pretense of easing a listener into her frustrations, launching directly into the depths of what feel like venting sessions in a private journal: expletive-laden, unrestrained and uncouth.

For those who have long clamored for Meg to return to the charmingly commanding  Foxy Brown-meets-Pimp C character work of 

, there is plenty of the sample-heavy, raunchy and nonchalant music that defined that era. This reset is exemplified by "Consistency," which uses a sample of The Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets" as cushion for breezy, brazen raps tailor-made for a late-night Instagram Stories caption. "Ms. Nasty" is a short and pithy return to erotic form, whipping her words around with the force of a lyrical domme. She playfully takes the reins of the beat, which bucks like a mechanical bull, as a clear demonstration of her undeniable control: "P-I-M-P, put it in my pocket / If it ain't 'bout my money or me nuttin', we ain't talkin'." 

At a lengthy 18 tracks, some of the album's potency gets diluted by more inert moments. Its formulaic and unmemorable lead single, "Pressurelicious," showcases Future at his most asynchronous. "Sweetest Pie," which caps the album, is an abrupt tonal shift, and seems to serve little purpose beyond guaranteeing a streaming-inflated RIAA certification at the expense of cohesion. Similarly, "Star" is an unexpected and awkward intermission from Megan's more aggressively raunchy melodies. 

But for every swing and miss, there is also a statement. Despite Meg's rapid ascent into popstar status, she always roars the loudest for the hometown that molded her, helped craft her sound, and continues to stand beside her. The Juicy J-produced "Southside Royalty Freestyle" stands out as an ode to the Third Coast, placing Megan amongst Houston mainstays Sauce Walka, Lil' Keke and Screwed Up Click's Big Pokey. "It takes 10 female artists to make a Megan Thee Stallion," Sauce Walka boasts on his outro, before reminding everyone of Lil Keke's heralded opening bars on the DJ Screw Houston classic "

": "I'm draped up and dripped out." The posse cut again reconnects Megan with the hometown sound, in what feels like a search for comfort. The reminder is necessary because she has grown into a pop-rap luminary, and elsewhere on the album, she stands resolutely in her reputation, as if posing for the cameras. "Her," a paint-by-numbers dance single that beats the Azealia Bankses of the world at their own game, plays like a statement of renewed purpose. In its verses, Megan slyly addresses any barb or insult that could be lobbied at her before the mud-slingers can even bother to hit send: "No matter what they do or say, it ain't no gettin' rid of me."

Megan joins a long line of women seeking agency through music — manifesting her anger, her resentment, and her full-bodied sexuality — attempting to define herself on her own terms after watching the public wrestle her story away from her, leaving her with the carnage. Listening to 

 brings to mind another time when one of the world's biggest pop darlings attempted to reclaim her power after a high-profile abuse scandal. For Rihanna, then a superstar in the making, the daring 

helped redefine her, changing her image and setting the tone for the rest of her career. While 

 is not the transformative pop revelation that 

 was, it is absolutely a declaration, and at times, a provocation, one in line with her freestyle breakthrough. It is a testament to her skill that she displays such command; it is a shame that she even feels the need to prove herself once again.   

Shamira Ibrahim

The rapper's second studio album reaches for a confessional mode, making space for ruminations and grief — while reaffirming her skills as one of rap's bar-for-bar heavyweights.


Alberto E. Rodriguez | Getty Images

Courtesy of the artist

Megan Thee Stallion - Scary (feat. Rico Nasty) [Official Visualizer]

Megan Thee Stallion - Ms. Nasty [Official Visualizer]

Megan Thee Stallion resets her terms with 'Traumazine'

 solo album felt like an imaginary object, long rumored yet never revealed. It went by several names — 

 — and had many soft launches. The Philly rapper born Tariq Trotter had of course already displayed his otherworldly dexterity as frontman and co-founder of 

, and, beginning in 2018, emerged as a willing and capable soloist with a series of freewheeling EPs. But for most rappers, a debut album is a statement of artistic purpose. For a rapper in a group, it is also a chance to establish a fully independent identity. Even as Black Thought the solo artist steadily took shape, his album — 

, Trotter's new collaboration with the producer 

, is that quintessential Black Thought album, the one long awaited by diehards, the first of his recent projects to transcend his supreme skill as a rhymer and define his music beyond his intense technique. As a soloist, Trotter has tended to write like a world traveler, making offhand references to the chupacabra or Bach, Amon-Ra or the hajj, his raps crowded but fluid as if he were sloshing on foot through a quagmire. Here, he finally locates himself within his songs: as a hometown hero who brought rap game theory to national TV yet remains cognizant of the Black struggle, who is trying to reconcile the world he's entered with the one he's from. If there are two Americas, Trotter has straddled both, and 

 shares lessons learned during his travels, with a clear frame of mind that is new ground even for one of rap's peerless performers.

As the voice of the legendary Roots crew, Trotter is both representative and accessory. The group is built around his indelible lyricism, but he has always been deferential to the collective, its ideas and organization. The Roots is also a live band, and moving through those arrangements requires a specific potency and stamina. Books on rapping have lauded his gifts as a performer: In 

, Kool G Rap champions Trotter's breath control and execution in a Roots staging of his song "Men at Work." 

, you are immediately struck by the physicality of his recitation, how forcefully and consistently he rattles off phrases, like a boxer working a speed bag. Yet that asset can also be a strange kind of liability in hip-hop. "Sometimes MCs' flows can so dominate their styles that they overshadow other elements of craft," Adam Bradley writes of Trotter in 

Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop. "

Set within the complex soundscapes offered up by the rest of the group, Black Thought's liquid flow at times nearly washes away his meaning."

The Roots released their last album in 2014 and followed Jimmy Fallon to 

 the same year, and a sense emerged that rapping might have become a secondary concern for Black Thought, admittedly a less ferocious presence at the head of a late-night house band. When Funk Flex invited him to participate in his ongoing freestyle series on Hot 97 in 2017, the rapper seemed to take the opportunity as a challenge — a way to reassert himself as not only an ambassador of the culture but a lethal technician. The performance was 

 that renewed conversations about barring out, and within the epic polemic were hints of a coming return: "Them brothers said, 'Don't go from written bars filled with rage / To primetime television and your gilded cage / Then forget there's people in the world still enslaved.' 

, the first of a trio of single-producer EPs that diverge sharply from The Roots' live instrumentation and conceptual arcs. As far back as 2001, Trotter seemed to already understand how he wanted his solo work to function: "The difference between a Black Thought album and a Roots album is the texture," he told MTV News, promising that his eventual debut would stick to samples. 

 delivered that vision via esteemed beatmakers 9th Wonder, Salaam Remi and Sean C, but mainly as a sparring exercise: Trotter's presence on those mini-releases is raw and loose, and they're better understood as small monuments to his talent than for their substance.

There is immediately a greater focus and intent to 

, beginning with the production. The flips are simple and elegant, the drums understated. There is enough space within the loops for Trotter's voice to probe through. Where Sean C compared the beats he made for 

 curates soul, psych rock and funk samples from the same era into a weirder, more warped palette. Danger Mouse constructed these beats with Black Thought and his skill set specifically in mind, and the rapper moves through them deliberately, without compromising what are some of his most writerly verses. Together, the two cohere around a mission to build a classicist album fit for the form's elder statesmen.

Relentless motion is clearly in Trotter's DNA, a trait he traces back to childhood: "My birthplace taught me not to stop / I'm more advanced than my classmates / I came into the game on a fast break," he raps on "No Gold Teeth."  Many songs on 

 are built around a single extended verse, though compared to his knotty Hot 97 filibuster they're compact and restrained, there to be not merely heeded but understood. Take the wavy "Identical Deaths," in which Black Thought is interviewed by God and keeps his cool, making gentle swoops from bar to bar as if trying to carefully pen a letter in cursive. On the title track, he works through the mindset of the "young gunners" running stickups in Philly, only to zoom out at the end and account for the larger systems that created them, using the mic like a bullhorn.

Virtuosity is too often presented as a shorthand for lyricism, and though some rappers have earned notoriety from the former, beneath the surface their verses are often empty. Trotter isn't immune to using technical hyper-proficiency to mask bombast, but even his most ill-defined rhymes carry a certain gravitas in their momentum, the deeply alliterative wordplay generating its own mystique. However, none of his previous releases have matched this novelistic charm with attentive storytelling the way 

 does. With "Because," he paints a vivid picture of the limited options that lead many into the carceral system. The winding verses of "Sometimes" and "Violas and Lupitas" are packed with little vignettes, and sometimes a bar will contain an entire scene: "Juke joint party lights lit the Harlem nights / Peas and rice made a Judas out of Garveyites."

There is still plenty of rapping about how great he is at rapping, but the verses more often turn on nuggets of personal discovery ("Richard Wright, 

 that grew into a Blacker man") and accumulated wisdom. Where Vol. 3 of S

 often felt aimlessly political, a concept record without a real agenda, the perspective here is tighter and more self-affirming. On "The Darkest Part," he mulls injustice, freedom, and the weight of the soul ("I came to take back that other two-fifths of a man"). Later, on "Saltwater," he distinguishes himself as a seasoned OG, not a lecturer; his rapping is surly but not disillusioned, observant but not sanctimonious. Even the songs that do fixate on the rap game as a sporting arena do so astutely: In the elongated verse of "Close to Famous," he measures the extent of his influence and the skill and experience gap between him as a veteran and rap's overnight sensations. Much of his case, like the album overall, is constructed around the idea that he can read any room and speak its language.

Trotter is not our only rapper-scholar, but his position in the culture is close to unique. "Bring the Cambridge, the Websters, the Oxfords ... Product of the Last Poets and the Watts Prophets," he raps on "Belize," presenting his career as a bridge between street intellectuals and academic authorities, rap as cipher and rap as literature. The notion of a full-length collaboration between Black Thought and Danger Mouse long predates his years on network television or the dynamic if arguably vain showcase of 

, but but results nonetheless feel like a culmination of that history. Listening now, it can feel like all those years the album went unmade are what made it possible.  

Sheldon Pearce

A standalone LP from the voice of the Roots was rumored for two decades at least. Finally here, Cheat Codes isn't just excellent: It's a product of all the years it went unmade.


Two men in blazers and sunglasses pose together for a portrait

Shervin Lainez

Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist

Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes (Official Audio)

BLACK THOUGHT FREESTYLES ON FLEX | #FREESTYLE087

Danger Mouse & Black Thought - No Gold Teeth (Official Video)

'Cheat Codes' is the solo album Black Thought couldn't have made until now

Rapper A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was officially charged this week with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in connection with a shooting that occurred in Hollywood last November.

and later released on bond in relation to this case. 

The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced the charges on Monday, saying Mayers is facing allegations of personally using a firearm during this altercation with a former friend. 

On Nov. 6, 2021, Mayers allegedly pointed a semiautomatic handgun at the victim. Later on during another confrontation with this person, Mayers allegedly drew the gun and fired twice in the direction of the victim, according to prosecutors. 

The LAPD said the victim suffered a minor injury from the shooting. 

Alan Jackson, an attorney for Mayers, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.  

"Discharging a gun in a public place is a serious offense that could have ended with tragic consequences not only for the person targeted but also for innocent bystanders visiting Hollywood," Gascón said in a statement. "My office conducted a thorough review of the evidence in this case and determined that the addition of a special firearm allegation was warranted." 


Mayers' arraignment is set for Wednesday at a Los Angeles court.


Jaclyn Diaz

Rapper A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, has his arraignment in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday.


Mr. iozo

A$AP Rocky faces 2 felony assault charges from an incident in Hollywood last year

Three years after his murder, rapper Nipsey Hussle was honored posthumously Monday with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — on what would have been the late rapper's 37th birthday.

The star, which was unveiled in a ceremony Monday afternoon, is located in front of Amoeba Music on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The ceremony included speeches and remarks from members of the late rapper's family, including his sister, Samantha Smith; his grandmother Margaret Boutte; and his  fiancée, actress Lauren London. Boutte accepted the star on behalf of the family.

"I think I speak for the entire city of LA when I say that we've always known Hussle was destined for greatness," London told 

. "This moment only amplifies this for us. Nip would've been honored by this moment."

The late rapper's star on the Walk of Fame is the 2,729th star since its completion in 1961 with the first 1,558 stars, NBC4 reported.

Hussle, born Airmiess Joseph Asghedom, was a Grammy-nominated rapper, entrepreneur and philanthropist who was 

 outside the Marathon Clothing store he owned in South Los Angeles.

Prior to his murder, Hussle was scheduled to meet with both Los Angeles Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore about ways to stop gang violence across the city.

"Nipsey Hussle was more than just a creative genius, he was committed to helping his community through savvy business moves and charitable contributions," Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said in a statement.

Hussle was also posthumously honored with two Grammy Awards in 2020 for 

In July, Los Angeles County jurors found 32-year-old Eric R. Holder Jr. guilty of the first-degree murder of Hussle.


Additionally, Holder was convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter, as two other men were injured from the gunfire at the crime scene. Holder could face up to life in prison and will be sentenced next month.


Jonathan Franklin

The late rapper's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is the 2,729th placed to date.


Crowd of people stand near Nipsey Hussle's Walk of Fame Star

Phillip Faraone

Damian Dovarganes/AP

Nipsey Hussle gets Hollywood star on what would have been his 37th birthday

Each week, we add new music, older tracks, which are known as “Gold adds”, and tracks that might not fit our general format, but still deserve a place in rotation because they serve our mission of showing the depth, breadth, and influence of Black musical expression - These are known as “Variety adds.”

We’re sharing this to get you excited to listen and to open up the floor for feedback and suggestions. If you want to request a song, 

. If you make music and want it considered for rotation, 

 If you want to give feedback directly, reach out to me at jgreen@mpr.org.

If you want to know what the track sounds like, scroll down to find Spotify playlists for the new, Gold, and Variety adds. Don’t forget to 

This week on The Message on Carbon Sound, Sanni will be curating her dream festivals. Each day is a new festival with a new focus - new/upcoming artists, stars, etc. Tune in to hear her every Mon-Thurs from 10a-1p!

Obi Original and Michael Krizz - “Monalisa”

Tony Shhnow - “Don't Look At Numbers”

Big Sean - “Living Single” feat. Chance the Rapper & Jeremih

DJ Screw - “My Mind Went Blank” feat. Point Blank

Shawny Binladen - “Whole Lotta Wickery” feat. Bizzy Banks

Julian Green built and manages the music library for Carbon Sound and oversees content creation.  


Julian Green

All of the tracks added to rotation on Carbon Sound the week of August 15, 2022.


Natalia Toledo

Carbon Sound Gold Adds Week of August 15, 2022

New Music on Carbon Sound - Week of August 15, 2022

 has many dismissive modes, but she is often most effective as an intimidator. The Houston freestyler turned Grammy Award winner has maintained an air of presupposed superiority throughout her ascent, and when she uses her lashing lyricism to browbeat ill-wishers (both real and faceless) she reasserts her own star power. 

On "Scary," an Avedon-produced standout from her new album 

, she once again embraces presence as a means of intimidation, reimagining Swishahouse as a haunted house in the process. Alongside the ever-flippant 

, she presses forward relentlessly like a slasher villain, embodying both connotations of a baddie, as both a heel and a confident, independent woman, each bar enunciated with bite. Rico, like Megan, is usually the alpha within the universe of her songs, but where her Texan compatriot plays the dominatrix, she is a taunter. "He talkin' on my name and we gon' dig a grave with you / Zombie-ass bitch, n**** gave me brain for dinner," Rico snaps. Playing with the horror theme, she zips through references to a little terror kingdom of her own making. As the song's spooky music-box chimes and Halloween synths build out a jam fit for slab music, two of rap's premier smack talkers find a demented glee in menacing those who might otherwise belittle them.   

On 'Scary,' two of rap's premier smack talkers find a demented glee in menacing those who might otherwise belittle them. 


A woman sits on a piano bench during a stage performance

Rich Fury/Getty Images

Megan Thee Stallion feat. Rico Nasty, 'Scary'

Atlanta rapper Quantavious Thomas, known professionally as Young Nudy, is known for rapping bloodthirsty lyrics over ominous beats. With a consistent discography spanning from his 2014 mixtape 

, Nudy effortlessly displays his impressive storytelling ability, while maintaining his nonchalant tone on each track. 

In recent years, fans have noticed Nudy’s tendency to include songs titled after food items. 

Twitter user @liigles said, “If Young Nudy got a song title named after food it’s an automatic banger,”

Young Nudy just released his latest project 

. Although there’s a lack of hunger-inducing track titles, we wanted to take a look back on the best. Here’s my ranking of Young Nudy’s songs with titles that reference food items:

No, that’s not a spelling error. The song is titled “Sherbert,” presumably in reference to sherbet, the ice-cold delicacy, as well as Sherbert, the marijuana strain. On this song, Nudy raps aimlessly about smoking weed and smoking opps. I placed this song here because while it’s not bad, it isn’t Nudy’s best. The song feels boring, and while I’m used to Nudy’s laid-back delivery on some of his other songs, here he sounds completely uninterested. 

A collaboration between Young Nudy and producer/rapper dynamo Pi’erre Bourne, “Hot Wings” features a booming beat with overall impressive production. The song has an infectious energy and I can’t help but bop my head up and down as I listen. While there is a consistent sound punctuating Nudy’s words, it does not distract from what he’s saying. The lyrics aren’t complex or particularly eye-opening, but then again, they don’t need to be. The reference to Ruth’s Chris Steak House is a perfect example of Nudy’s ability to take a random food and use it as inspiration for creating a cool song.

I had mixed feelings about this song upon first listen. It features repetitive writing that takes away from the twinkly, well-made beat. On the first verse, Nudy says, “Damn y'all some hating ass niggas / Damn y'all some lame ass niggas / Shady ass, shady ass, shady ass, foo ass, lame ass nigga.” While he isn’t necessarily known for his lyricism, repetitive lines like that are a low point. Instead, the spotlight is reserved for the aforementioned spacey production as well as the song title, which is so divorced from the subject matter that I can’t help but smile when I see it.

The original title was “From Back Den To Loaded Baked Potato”. The song is about moving up in the world, so loaded baked potatoes must be a status symbol for Nudy. They sell loaded baked potatoes at Wendy’s, though, so it still doesn’t make that much sense.

Of all the songs on this list, “Barbecue” is the one that most strongly reveals Nudy’s distaste for other people. His tone on this track is similar to that of his songs “Peons” or “Pussy,” tracks where he doesn’t hold back on those he looks down on. While he primarily refers to men on the aforementioned tracks, “Barbecue” shows that his animosity is not gender-specific, and can extend to women as well. In the second verse, he states, “Nah I don't care for these hoes / Everywhere I go, treat these hoes like shit.” Every time I hear that line, I laugh, mostly because it feels like his way of letting listeners know that his low opinion of others is inclusive. The theme of misanthropy is one that permeates Nudy’s work, but here it is made extremely apparent. 

While this may be the most sonically calming track on this list, the lyrics tell another story. Here, Nudy promises that he will “get money forever” and his talent proves that statement to be true. I love how he pairs a smooth instrumental with his classic method of bragging about his lifestyle. The song reminds me of a lullaby, but with the edginess that characterizes Young Nudy’s music. The Pi’erre Bourne-produced beat lulls listeners into a false sense of security as Nudy enumerates the ways he is better than his detractors, citing things such as the amount of money he is paid for each live performance and his ability to attract beautiful women. 

“Green Bean'' also features upbeat production from Pi’erre Bourne, a frequent collaborator of Young Nudy. On this song, the rapper takes a more understated approach to expressing his view on street life, avoiding excessively flowery language and simply stating, “Big God, He blessed me, tryna get me out the streets / But the streets be callin', sayin', ‘Slimeball, we need somebody dead in the street.’” Here Nudy makes it clear that his decision to engage with other gangsters is not one driven by necessity, but a genuine desire to act on his “evil” urges. 

As a Nudy fan, I think one of the most enjoyable things about his songs is his unapologetic way of leaning into the more violent, negative parts of his personality. It provides a way for me to live vicariously through his words, which can be cathartic.

“Blue Cheese Salad” is the culmination of Nudy’s efforts at developing as an artist and releasing music that is well-written, replayable, and most importantly, fun. This song stands out to me, not just as a favorite in Nudy’s discography, but as an example of what rap music can and should be. 

Beginning with the extremely apt assertion that he only makes “stoner music, gangster music, killer music,” Nudy sets himself up as a rapper who is making some of the most enjoyable songs in hip-hop. 

, “Calimari” hosts Young Nudy and fellow Atlanta rapper Kourtney Money. For over four minutes, the two go back and forth hyping themselves and their friends, making frequent references to their street cred. Some of the best things about this song are the adlibs (“yeahhh”) and sound effects (doorbell ringing, gunshots). They elevate the track from a simple song to a storytelling exercise with theatrical elements. 

Tosin Faseemo

From “Hot Wings” to “Loaded Baked Potato”, we’ve ranked all the best Young Nudy food songs.


YVRBCbro / Flickr

Sherbert

Hot Wings

Loaded Baked Potato

Barbecue

Sunflower Seeds

Green Bean

Blue Cheese Salad

Young Nudy Food Tracks

Young Nudy Food Songs, Ranked!

Taylor Swift has told a federal court that she wrote all of the lyrics to her 2014 hit "Shake It Off," and said she had never heard of the group 3LW or their 2001 song "Playas Gon' Play" before a lawsuit was filed against her.

in a declaration this week over the case originally filed in 2017 by

Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who wrote "Playas Gon' Play" and allege that Swift stole

The lawsuit focuses on Swift's chorus, which include the phrases, "'the players gonna play, play, play," and "the haters gonna hate, hate, hate." The 3LW songwriters point out that the 2001 song contains the lyrics, "playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate."

She said that the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" were part of popular culture as she was growing up, and often used "to express the idea that one can or should shrug off negativity."

Swift said her lyrics did not have any influence from 3LW and instead, is about "independence and 'shaking off' negative personal criticism through music and dance."

"In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, 'clickbait' reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music," Swift said.

In her declaration, Swift provides examples to illustrate her point that the phrases were widely used, including a 2013 performance by Eric Church at the Country Music Awards. Church performed his song "The Outsiders," which also includes the lyrics "the player's gonna play and a hater's gonna hate." 

At one of her own performances in 2013, Swift says she wore a T-shirt with the phrase "haters gonna hate" on it, and added that she purchased the shirt from Urban Outfitters.

Swift concluded that she had "never heard the song Playas Gon' Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW," before the lawsuit by Hall and Butler in 2017. 

"None of the CDs I listened to as a child, or after that, were by 3LW," Swift said. "I have never heard the song Playas Gon' Play on the radio, on television, or in any film. The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made."

Hall and Butler have said that they coined the phrase, and that while it "may seem like common parlance today," it was "completely original and unique" when they wrote the song. 


The next hearing in this case is scheduled for Sept. 19.


Wynne Davis

Taylor Swift says she had never heard of the group 3LW or their 2001 song "Playas Gon' Play" before a lawsuit was filed against her accusing her of stealing lyrics.


Taylor Swift at the 'Cats' movie premiere, 2019.

Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

3LW - Playas Gon' Play (Official Video)

Taylor Swift says she never listened to 3LW before writing 'Shake It Off'

 song or watched a performance online, expectations of catching brilliance when you witness the jazz duo in person are likely high. JD's drumsticks move faster than the brain can process. DOMi offers every appendage on her body to the keys. It's frantic but focused, and I can't stop watching. For as tight as the two artists are musically — and even physically; one of their few Tiny Desk requests was for the drums and keys to be set up as close as possible —  they take silly self-deprecating jabs when they aren't playing. It's believable until they transform and the music starts.

The two musicians come from two completely different parts of the world. James Beck began cutting his teeth as young as 11 at jam sessions in Dallas. DOMi, aka Domitille Degalle, was born in France and raised on jazz, and enrolled at the Conservatoire Régional du Grand Nancy at five. DOMi eventually made her way to the States via a Presidential Scholarship from the Berklee College of Music. The two met at a trade show in 2018 and have been inseparable since, playing sets on YouTube and driving the internet nuts. Before they knew it, they were rubbing elbows with the upper echelon in jazz, R&B and hip-hop. 

The duo's debut album, ironically titled 

, is a graduation of sorts with all of their OGs lending a hand — notably Anderson .Paak, who took DOMi and JD BECK under his wing and made the duo the first signee to his APES*** label. The two brought highlights from that album to the Tiny Desk, including the vines, turf and vibrant floral arrangements from the album cover. Before "U DON'T HAVE TO ROB ME," a true story turned comedy, they make another attempt at neutralizing the room. DOMi says, "We're gonna ruin it!" It's too late for all of that. We're already amazed.

The jazz duo known for dazzling, brilliant live performances delivered at the Tiny Desk, with a set of songs from its debut album.


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