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Drake — Push Ups
After a week of waiting, Drake has finally dropped his previously leaked diss track “Push Ups” on streaming services. He takes aim at his newfound enemies Future, The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, and of course, Kendrick Lamar.
Nas & DJ Premier — “Define My Name”
Nas and DJ Premier are celebrating a couple of momentous occasions today. First, the storied super-producer and emcee combo is honoring the 30th anniversary of Escobar’s Illmatic. Next, they’re dropping a new single from their just-announced, highly-anticipated and long-awaited collaborative album.
The duo reunites on “Define My Name,” a callback to their classic “Nas is Like…” collaboration. The scratch-filled track also allows the Queensbridge rhymer to reflect on the meaning behind N-A-S and what the letters spell. “Name existed forever, it means ‘victory helper,’” he raps. “Whole name means ‘protector.’”
Nas, who is 50, also contemplates age on the record. “At 20, I said I’d better quit by 30 / Then by 30, I thought by 40 rapping is corny / How wrong was I? / Never would have thought at 50 / New songs by Nas / would be hard and live.”
Premier and Nas end the track with their album announcement. “I got the rhymes. You got the beats. 30 years later, we back in the streets,” Esco says. “We back in the lab. It’s time. It’s album time. Black, it’s time.”
Nicki Minaj f. Travis Scott, Chris Brown & Sexyy Red — “FTCU (Sleezemix)”
Nicki Minaj might be on tour right now, but that isn’t stopping her from dropping new music. Today, the New York rhymer unleashes “FTCU (Sleezemix)” and she brings a few friends along for the Gag City ride.
Chris Brown, Sexyy Red, and Travis Scott join the party here. Each artist provides their very own verse while Nicki adds some new flavor to the Pink Friday 2 standout, which ATL Jacob and Southside produced.
“All this money on me, soon as I hit the club, they get alert,” Scott raps on the track. “Can you twerk?” Breezy adds: “She just took a Tesla before she gave me top / Her boyfriend is a heckler, keep begging her to stop.”
Sexyy and Nicki also trade bars to round this out. “He like my accent and he say he like my swag,” Red brags in her verse. “S-E-X-the-Y,” Minaj raps. “I’m just stating facts, F-E-N-D-I.”
Logic — “44ever”
Logic is back with another single and a space-based music video to match. Frequent collaborator 6ix produced the track alongside Postman. Meanwhile, the chart-topping rapper shouts out some familiar names in his verses.
“Me and [Wiz] Khalifa done hit like a million cities,” he raps on the cut. “Got a million bitties / wishin’ they could get in but they can’t / Soon as they see me, they faint / Feel like Mick Jagger in ’76.”
Soon, he bigs up another one of his influences. “Bobby Boy bringin’ that kick like Kung Fu Kenny,” he also adds. “Not many can f-ck with me / A lot of you f-ck with me / and I’m grateful you stuck with me.”
Henry Smisek and JT Clemente directed the song’s music video, which can be viewed below. “The music video highlights two scientists as crew members of the Aquarius III,” the clip description explains. “Dr. Moogega Cooper is a Planetary Protection Engineer and Dr. Anjali Tripathi is an astrophysicist and exoplanet explorer – both of whom have contributed to NASA’s Mars rover missions.”
Mozzy — Children of the Slums
Sacramento rapper Mozzy has been making a name for himself. Hailing from the California underground, the street-based rhymer continues to evolve. After collaborating with Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and YG, he delivers his newest album, Children of the Slums.
Fridayy, Eric Bellinger, and E Mozzy all appear on the project. Julian Cannon, Nick Cassidy, Adrian McKinnon, and more handle the production. Meanwhile, Mozzy delivers the heartfelt and often darkly vivid rhymes that he’s become known for.
Mozzy says this album showcases the wins as well as the pitfalls that he’s had to endure of late, including incarceration. “I’m not one to glorify my Ls,” he told XXL. “I feel like that was a big L, but everything happens for a reason and I used it to my advantage. To sit down, reflect, make some new material, and here you have it Children of the Slums.”
He went on to say: “I’ve watched a lot of people fumble, lose their lives, go to jail, get washed, so for me to be here at this present moment, I’m better than ever.”
