The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Juice WRLD, Rick Ross, Russ, and more.

Friday saw the releases of Earl Sweatshirt (“Tabula Rasa“), 2 Chainz (“Mortage Free“), RZA & Flatbush Zombies (“Plug Addicts“), and Kyle (“Perfect“), along with the releases listed below.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending December 10, 2021.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

2KBaby — First Quarter

2KBaby is a rapper who is slowly rising in estimation alongside fellow Louisville products like Jack Harlow and EST Gee. The Midwestern city is having something of a breakout this year and First Quarter solidifies the youngster as someone to keep an eye on going into 2022.

Big Boi & Sleepy Brown — Big Sleepover

After a few delays, the long-awaited collab album between the two Atlanta compatriots has finally arrived, bringing with it all the Funkadelic-influenced Southern hop you could possibly want. Their chemistry has been evident since their earliest offerings, and here, there’s little left to prove. An easy listen.

Juice WRLD — Fighting Demons

Although posthumous collaborations are often, well… questionable, there’s something so deliciously absurd about pairing the eternally tormented Juice WRLD with the brightly polished BTS member Suga. Meanwhile, plugging in verbal interludes from Juice and his “Godzilla” collaborator Eminem at least offer some insights into the late rapper’s talents and thoughts.

Rick Ross — Richer Than I Ever Been

Ross’ latest is an astonishingly stripped-down affair, scaling back the anthemic cuts that have come to define about half his mainstream output to focus on the other half of it: soulful, almost throwback-seeming beats that allow the full force of his penmanship to shine through. His guests put up some impressive numbers too. This is just straight-up hip-hop, no chaser, and it’s one of his classiest, most cohesive projects yet.

Russ — Chomp 2

Building on the concept of the first Chomp EP, which was all about Russ showing off his lyrical prowess alongside some of the best in the business, the sequel expands the tracklist and the guestlist alike, to impressive results. The abrasive Atlantan may rub folks the wrong way with his interviews, but his pen game is undeniable.

Wiz Khalifa, Cardo & Sledrgen — Wiz Got Wings

Listen, if there is one way to get this rap writer to tune all the way into a new Wiz Khalifa release, it’s by telling him that the project is entirely produced by the Pittsburgh native’s most prolific and natural collaborators, the eternally smooth sounding Cardo and Sledgren. The laid-back production not only perfectly complements Wiz’s relaxed delivery, but it’s hard to imagine one without the other.

Singles/Videos

Cousin Stizz — “Blessings”

The rollout to Stizz’s return project continues, this time with a soulful street anthem that puts his slick wordplay at the forefront.

Lil Keke — “We From Texas” Feat. Sauce Walka, Slim Thug & Z-Ro

Whew. An all-star lineup of some of Houston’s finest makes for a hypnotic, trunk-knocking good time.

MadeinTYO & UnoTheActivist — “Love Myself”

Dropping from the duo’s Yokohama joint project also out now, “Love Myself” features a throwback, arcade-sounding beat — insomuch as the height of the SoundCloud era could be called “throwback” now.

Preme — “Hopscotch” Feat. Swae Lee

Preme’s campaign to cross the northern border of the US has been going pretty well so far, and adding Swae Lee to the forward offensive results in a critical win.

Rubi Rose — “Loyal Dick”

Rubi’s voice remains the highlight of her music. It’s smoky and crisp at the same time, allowing her diamond-edged flows to cut across even the most thunderous production. This single is a step in the right direction, proving she’s just one hit away.

TM88 x Pi’erre Bourne — “Pop Out”

When producers decide to switch up and start rapping themselves, the results can be hit or miss. Fortunately, Pi’erre’s previous collaborators have already set the tone and he more or less nails it on his and TM88’s collaborative tape, Yo-88.

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

Early aughts nostalgia has been at an all-time high lately. Y2K stars like Britney Spears are all over the news and Gen Z musicians like Blackstarkids and Willow are bringing ’00s pop-punk back into the mainstream. Avril Lavigne, who collaborated with Willow on a recent track, is also benefiting form the resurgence of early-’00s culture.

The 20th anniversary of Lavigne’s breakout track “Sk8er Boi” is coming next year and she’s got some big plans to celebrate. Lavigne wants to revisit the song in a big way — by making “Sk8er Boi” into a film. Lavigne discussed her lofty plans in a conversation on the iHeartRadio podcast She Is The Voice over the weekend. The singer said people always bring up the song to her and it’s her favorite to play live, so she wants to “take it to the next level” with a film:

“Recently with it being almost the 20th anniversary, a lot of people have been asking me to play [‘Sk8er Boi’] on some TV shows, so it keeps getting brought back up and people will always reference it to me. And so, I’m actually going to turn this song into a film… and take it to the next level.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Lavigne said the song is really about a “missed opportunity at love.”

“You know what it was like in high school, you have all the different groups and cliques, and there’s like skaters, preps, jocks. It’s kind of like a missed opportunity at love,” she said. “The skater boy is in love with the preppy girl but like she’s too cool for him but then five years from now she’s feeding the baby and she’s all alone and she wishes she would have followed her heart and not tried to live up to society’s expectations.”

The singer hasn’t shared many details about her film adaptation plans thus far, including a cast or a story line. But based on the song’s subject matter, the film would likely be a high school teen dramedy, which is a film genre that was also very popular in the early ’00s.

Sometimes winning a prize isn’t rewarding, entertainment isn’t entertaining and a feel-good story doesn’t feel good at all. This is one of those times.

A hockey game intermission in Sioux Falls, South Dakota this weekend included a “dash for cash,” in which 5,000 $1 bills were dumped onto a carpet in the middle of the rink and a handful of local teachers got to scramble on their knees to shove as many of the bills as they could into their clothing. Whatever they grabbed they could use in their classrooms.

The people who educate our children, on their knees, competing in a mad dash to cram dollar bills into their clothing to pay for classroom supplies, while spectators watch and cheer? Who thought this was a good idea?

Video of the event, which took place after the first period of the Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game, was shared by reporter Annie Todd on Twitter. It looks just as dystopian as it sounds.

Ever wonder what $5,000 one dollar bills look like?pic.twitter.com/q4M1dkorn5

— Annie Todd (@Annie Todd)
1639269787

First, garbage bags full of $1 bills were dumped into a big pile. All I can think is, someone had to go get 5,000 single dollar bills and someone had to stuff them into garbage bags, knowing what was going to be done with them.

Did everyone involved here think this was a good idea? Did it warm their hearts to think of school teachers, who are already overworked and undervalued, desperately scraping the ground to pick up those dollar bills so their students could have some new books or markers or Kleenex? Really?

Then came the footage of the “dash for cash.” It’s been many years since I taught in a classroom, but as a former teacher, these videos genuinely made me want to cry.

Almost done!pic.twitter.com/K8Rr83uzui

— Annie Todd (@Annie Todd)
1639271089

Are you seeing what I’m seeing? The people who educate our children should not have to participate in demeaning public spectacles for others’ entertainment in order to pay for things in their classrooms. Ever. Period.

And yet, enough people thought this was a good idea that it was organized and took place, which is baffling. Look at the description of the event on the Stampede hockey team’s website:

“New this season, the Stampede and CU Mortgage Direct are looking for teachers who would like to raise some cash for their classrooms! Not just some cash, but more than $5,000 will be going back to local schools! Teachers will compete to raise money in two ways.

1) Tickets – Each teacher will have their own ticket link that they can share. Each ticket bought will equal $5 that goes back to their school! In addition, the teachers that sell the most will get additional prizes.

2) Dash for Cash – During the 1st intermission on December 11th, teachers will compete against one another to grab as much cash as they can! There will be 5,000 $1 bills on the ice and teachers will get to keep all the money they grab for their classroom!”

Why are we inviting teachers to “compete to raise money” for classrooms as if that’s normal? Why are we describing teachers selling tickets to sporting events to get money for their schools as if it’s a great opportunity for them and not an indictment of our educational system? (Did I mention that South Dakota ranks close to last in teacher pay?)

Teachers do enough already. Anyone who has taught in a classroom can attest that teaching alone is enough of a job and that teachers are not paid nearly enough to do it. In no civilized universe should we expect teachers to fundraise their own jobs, much less celebrate them competing for resources as a form of entertainment.

In a 35 year career spanning 3 countries, 6 states, 6th grade to university, poor to wealthy, Iu2019ve seen a great deal but nothing, nothing as f@%^ed as this! WTF?!?! SMH

— Kgosi314 (@Kgosi314)
1639347114

Some might say, “Hey, $5,000 is $5,000 right? Shouldn’t these teachers be grateful?” I’m sure they are. Because teachers are thankful for every dollar they get to help their kids have a safe, comfortable, enriching learning environment. Most teachers—94%, according to the National Education Association—pay for classroom supplies out of their own pocket, so yeah, they’re happy to get anything. But if someone wants teachers to have money, just donate it. Don’t turn it into a humiliating, gladiator-style competition with $1 bills. It’s just gross.

I mean, try to imagine a group of doctors scrambling for cash like this in front of a crowd to buy surgical equipment. Imagine business execs dropping to their knees to pick up dollar bills as fast as they can to buy office supplies. Imagine military personnel grasping at singles to pay for their tactical gear.

We would never see that. It would be absurd.

Teachers are professionals who deserve so much better than this. I hope whoever organized the event rethinks ever doing it again in the future and donates some extra cash to these teachers to apologize for the bad call.

Following the Hollywood premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home on Monday night, Marvel fans are taking drastic action now that the film’s secrets are out in the wild. In an effort to avoid any Spidey spoilers, which are sure to start flying all over social media as they so often do after a Marvel movie’s release, fans are “deleting Twitter” until they see the film. In fact, so many people started using the phrase that “deleting Twitter” started trending on Monday night.

Granted, Sony did its best to keep spoilers to a minimum, but a strongly worded statement from the studio is like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun at this point.

“NO SPOILERS. Don’t be that person,” Sony tweeted. “If you want to be extra safe, stop reading comments, mute keywords, and start staying off social media today! Watch #SpiderManNoWayHome to find out what happens for yourself when the movie hits theaters Thursday!”

With fan anticipation for No Way Home at an all time-high thanks to the film being touted as the Avengers: Endgame of the Spider-Man movies, people aren’t taking any chances. Especially when there are potentially huge reveals like the rumored appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Not to mention any wild surprises that the Marvel Multiverse might throw at Tom Holland‘s Spidey.

Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into theaters on December 17.

Harry Styles’ massive Love On Tour just came to a close a few weeks ago. After being rescheduled, Styles’ tour spanned 42 nights and, according to him, felt like such a “celebration of coming back together” that he “won’t ever forget it.” But there’s another reason Love On Tour was so memorable for others — Styles raised a bunch of money for charity.

Styles’ North American tour is officially over and the numbers are in. Per Live Nation’s results, Styles’ sold 720,000 tickets across 42 nights and his tour grossed just shy of $95 million. The shows were so popular, in fact, concert attendance records were broken in places like Michigan, Arizona, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

The singer had also committed to donating a portion of the proceeds to various charitable partners. Because his tour was such a success, it means he was able to collect a lot of funds to benefit non-profits — over $1 million to be exact. According to Variety, Styles was able to raise that much money in half the amount of time compared to his 2018 tour.

The $1 million raised on the road will go to several organizations, including Physicians For Reproductive Health, Black Voters Matter, and Choose Love. The singer had also committed to cutting down on the amount of plastic his team used while on tour. He partnered with environmental nonprofit Reverb and was able to save a total of 33,940 from being used by both fans and his crew members.

For as much flak as Logic took — and probably still takes — for his earnest 2017 suicide prevention anthem “1-800-273-8255,” it turns out that the song was actually pretty effective in its stated purpose, according to a study in The BMJ (British Medical Journal). While correlation by no means equals causation, the study found that during three key periods of the song’s popularity, suicide rates among 10- to 19-year-olds in the US dropped by 5.5 percent. A corresponding model of the same time periods in different years shows that this comes out to about 245 fewer suicides.

The three periods examined included the first 34 days after the song’s release, after Logic’s 2017 MTV VMAs performance, and after his 2018 Grammy Awards performance. The study also found that the number of calls made to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, from which the song takes its title, rose by 6.9 percent, or 9,915 more calls than usual — something that was reported previously but bears repeating.

The study’s author, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, an associate professor in the department of social and preventive medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, told CNN, “Celebrities but also non-celebrities can have an important role in suicide prevention if they communicate about how they have coped with crisis situations and suicidal ideation.” Meanwhile, Logic himself seemed pretty enthused about the analysis, saying, “To know that my music was actually affecting people’s lives, truly, that’s what inspired me to make the song. We did it from a really warm place in our hearts to try to help people. And the fact that it actually did — that blows my mind.”

Nicolas Cage received the best reviews of his career for his performance in Pig (R.I.P. Pig). For his follow-up film, he’ll play the role he’s been training his whole life for: himself. In the meta action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage stars Nick Cage, a fictionalized version of himself who accepts a $1 million offer to attend a birthday party thrown by a super-fan (played by Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal). They shoot guns, get high, and feebly climb over walls.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent bills itself as the “most Nicolas Cage movie ever,” complete with references to his many classics like Con Air, The Rock, and, uh, The Croods 2. After watching the trailer above, I am inclined to agree.

Here’s the official plot summary:

Nicolas Cage stars as… Nick Cage in the action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent opens on April 22, 2022.

Billie Eilish is now a few days removed from her first time hosting Saturday Night Live and she ended up doing a terrific job. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t nervous before hand, though. In fact, Eilish told Howard Stern yesterday that she “cried every single day of the week” leading up to the show.

She said:

“The week of preparing for SNL is f*cking nuts, dude. It’s literally alien. I cried every single day of the week, no joke at all. […] I did actually love to act when I was a kid, but that’s not my world, so I don’t know what the f*ck I’m doing. I feel like I am terrible, I feel like I suck. The craziest part of the week was on Wednesday, the table read, where everybody reads 60 — I think, maybe 50, 40… a lot — of scripts at a table. […] You do it for like a few hours, however long it takes, and then there’s a 20-minute break in the middle, and then you do the rest. So you do like 20 scripts and then stop for a second and then 20 more, and in the break, I cried and came back. I went to the Green Room, cried, and came back. I was just scared. I just was like, it’s SNL, these amazingly talented actors surrounding a table where, somehow, I’m the main course for this show I didn’t feel qualified for.”

Eilish then spoke about some… biological responses she had to her nerves, saying, “I had a full-body reaction to being anxious about this the whole week. Threw up on a plane coming here, had crazy sh*ts when I got here like you would not believe… you know, the ones where you have to get fully naked on the toilet. […] I’ve had stomachaches all week, I’ve been anxious and nervous, just ’cause it’s not my world and I’m so petrified of people thinking I suck.”

She noted, though, that once she did a dress rehearsal with an audience, her nerves subsided, saying, “As soon as I saw the crowd and felt their joy, it was like I wasn’t nervous. It was relieving, somehow, and I think that that is just my love for performing, and then I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really incredible, and I don’t have to worry. This is just for fun.’”

Watch the interview clip above.

The Los Angeles Lakers have mostly tread water this season, sitting at 15-13, right in the middle of the crowded Western Conference playoff race in sixth. It isn’t where most anticipated the Lakers to be, but with LeBron James missing time, Anthony Davis not looking anything close to his best, Russell Westbrook struggling early, and a roster around those three that has not provided much help, there isn’t a lot of optimism that things will just turn around without a shakeup.

The problem is, there aren’t a lot of options for roster changes for this Lakers team, as the majority of their players are on minimum salaries and the only two who aren’t with any value are Talen Horton-Tucker (who has struggled of late) and Kendrick Nunn (who has been hurt all year and is yet to play). As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Lakers are taking a long look internally at any possible option that doesn’t involve dealing LeBron or AD, which has brought them to discussions about Westbrook, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

The trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook simply hasn’t blended as well as Lakers figures hoped, and Los Angeles has held internal discussions on trade scenarios for Russell Westbrook, league sources told B/R. But moving Westbrook and the two years, $91 million remaining on his contract does seem unlikely.

This is more an indictment of how this team is constructed than anything, as Westbrook, to his credit, has started to turn the corner of late and seems to be trying to adapt his game to better fit in with the Lakers other two stars. It’s simply a matter of, if there is a major upgrade to be made, the Lakers will have to ship out a big piece, and Westbrook’s the only real option. The problem with that is, Westbrook’s value compared to his contract will make it difficult to deal him, as Fischer notes, and few teams will value Westbrook as highly as the Lakers did this past summer.

The Lakers are clearly trying to get in on just about anyone on the trade market, as they’ve been connected to Ben Simmons and Jerami Grant recently, despite not having much of anything that would seem to entice either the Sixers or Pistons in trade talks. It certainly seems like the Lakers front office is just going to keep calling teams without much to offer and hope someone just so happens to be in love with the idea they can turn THT into a star or believes Westbrook is their missing piece, but the latter, in particular, seems more like an internal dream of the Lakers than anything that will ever gain much traction.

With the worldwide release of Spider-Man: No Way Home just a few days away, the film’s stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jacob Batalon all stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to chat it up with the host before Monday night’s massive Hollywood premiere. Holland also participated in the Kimmel staple where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves on camera, but the young Marvel star had a pretty quick comeback to the insult hurled at him.

“Well, Tom Holland is an absolute wanker,” the tweet said to which Holland responded, “and also Spider-Man.” The Kimmel crowd loved it, and it added a little mustard to Holland’s rebuttal that he was actually wearing the Spider-Man costume.

Later, the No Way Home stars mix it up with Kimmel, which Cumberbatch and Batalon admitted they haven’t seen yet. Holland and Zendaya not only have seen it, but they said they asked Marvel to play it again as soon as it was over. However, one thing the cast was all in concert about was the relief of no longer having to keep secrets. In fact, an exasperated Holland blurted out that he’s tired of telling lies, which Kimmel immediately tried to exploit by asking him which specific lies he’s tired of telling. It didn’t work, but good effort, Jimmy.

The cast also tackled the non-stop parade of fan theories and rumors, which are at an all-time high thanks to No Way Home’s multiversal shenanigans that will see Holland go toe-to-toe with characters from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spidey films, and perhaps other corners of the MCU.

Spider-Man: No Way Home opens exclusively in theaters on December 17.