Ari Lennox can’t find love in new “POF” video

Ari Lennox’s cuffing season is off to a rough start in the new music video for the R&B superstar’s “POF” from her new critically acclaimed album, age/sex/location, on Dreamville / Interscope Records.

The video plays on the song title (“POF” = plenty of fish), as the hitmaker’s quest for love hits several roadblocks in a string of terrible dates. After multiple flops, she seemingly finds a real match – but, in a twist, the date sets up a direct lead into her carnal video for “Hoodie,” which drew plenty of talk for its own surprise ending.

Watch “POF” video HERE.

Both “POF” and “Hoodie” are on Ari’s hotly anticipated, age/sex/location, which was released last month to wide acclaim. Pitchfork called the album “her most assured-sounding project yet” and praised the work as “a bountiful exploration of what it truly means to be grown and sexy,” while Rolling Stone declared, “She needs her flowers now.” The album also includes the Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox-produced “Pressure,” that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart and became her first Hot 100 hit, and fan-favorite “Queen Space,” with frequent collaborator Summer Walker. With those hits and more, age/sex/location has already surged past 150 million streams in the U.S. in its first month. Listen to the full album HERE.

The age/sex/location release celebrations featured her return to NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she performed a dazzling medley of two album tracks, “POF” and “Waste My Time,” draped in a gorgeous sparkling minidress. Ari’s fashion prowess was also on full display with her appearance at PUMA’s showcase during New York Fashion Week. The build-up events also included an intimate listening party in New York City, a comedy night at DC Winery in her native Washington D.C. hosted by KevOnStage, and finally, an official release party in conjunction with Amazon Music.

Age/sex/location is the hotly anticipated follow-up to Ari’s acclaimed 2019 debut, Shea Butter Baby. The project, now with over 1.5 billion global streams, spawned the RIAA platinum-certified title track, featuring Dreamville label head and marquee artist J. Cole, the fan-favorite, gold-certified singles “BMO” and “Whipped Cream,” and “Up Late,” whose intimate video drew praise from ESSENCE, Noisey, Pitchfork, and Billboard. Awards recognition capped off the debut era with nominations at the Grammys (for her contribution to Dreamville’s album, Revenge of the Dreamers III), three 2019 Soul Train Awards, and two 2020 NAACP Awards.

Watch “POF” here:

Stream now: Ghanaian renegade Black Sherif releases first full-length project ‘The Villain I Never Was’

Ghanian star Black Sherif takes the global stage with his debut album The Villain I Never Was, out today via Blacko Management / EMPIRE.

Sonically filmic and purposefully biographic, The Villain I Never Was is Black Sherif’s trials and tribulations.

“It took me everything to give life to this body,” the 20-year-old artist said. “The one thing in my life that I gave everything up for. There is life in this body, I hope it treats you good and speaks to you like I want it to.” His journey, from a young Muslim man from the mining town of Konongo to an internationally celebrated artist, is as harrowing as it is electrifying, as depicted in “45” and “Soja,” the project’s focus tracks.

Combining his native tongue of Twi and his gift for storytelling with “asakaa” (the Ghanian take on the popular drill sound) and Afrobeats, Black Sherif blends cultures to create his own world on The Villain I Never Was. Already with more than 450 million streams to his name, from hits like “Kwaku The Traveller” and “Second Sermon,” Black Sherif is proud to deliver his first
full-length project and make his US debut with a performance at Elsewhere in New York City on Sunday, November 6th.

Stream The Villain I Never Was here.

GloRilla announces debut EP ‘Anyways, Life’s Great…’

Today, Memphis star GloRilla announces her label debut EP “Anyways, Life’s Great…” dropping November 11th.  Pre-order the EP HERE. This week GloRilla gained her first Billboard Top 10 record with single, “Tomorrow 2” feat. Cardi B. The track debuted at #1 on Apple Music, trended #1 on YouTube and landed at No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Listen to “Tomorrow 2” HERE via CMG Records/ Interscope Records

“Tomorrow 2” debuted at No.2 on the Digital Song Sales (9,000), No.3 on Streaming Songs (19.7 million), and drew 3.5 million listeners in radio reach. See official Billboard article HERE.

“Tomorrow 2” follows GloRilla’s breakthrough hit “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” which has over 21 million Spotify streams and was remixed with features from JT(City Girls) and Latto. In addition to the song’s success on radio, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” also sparked a viral #FNFChallenge on TikTok and earned GloRilla her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. Most recently, she dropped “Blessed,” which has garnered more than 2 million Spotify streams and counting. 

GloRilla is just getting started as she has accumulated widespread support across the music industry and has received co-signs from Travis Scott,Saweetie, JT and many more. This is only the beginning for GloRilla as more music and exciting announcements are on the way.

Charlotte’s Mavi is high as the “Doves” on new single

The critically-acclaimed Charlotte-based rapper Mavi has released a new single “Doves”, produced by Dylvinci with a Lonewolf-directed visual.

This release is the follow-up single to the announcement of his long-awaited sophomore album Laughing So Hard It Hurts (Out 10/14) and “Baking Soda”, a track noted by Pitchfork for its “cryptic meditations against crackly drums and a warm soul loop.” The lead-up to this release has been highly-anticipated following a stunning 2019 debut album Let The Sun Talk, a welcomed follow-up EP End of The Earth, and last year, being hand-selected by Jack Harlow, whose resounding admiration was made obvious with a shoutout on his latest album, to accompany him on tour.

The new single, “Doves” is a down-tempo, silky smooth song that interweaves Mavi’s lullaby-soft wordplay and flexible bar-work with springy synths, an ethereal composition, and radiant sample chops courtesy of producer Dylvinci, the conductor pulling the strings behind the “plugg” sub-genre. In line with the thematic nature of Laughing So Hard It Hurts, the melodic track revolves around Mavi sparring with his psyche and exploring his detachments, displayed in the opening lines: “Every turn of the page just another issue/Good days a double-edged blade Ginsu/I can’t count a frame where I didn’t miss you”. The visual for the track, directed by Lonewolf (Zac Matias) is akin to that of a full-blown motion picture, with Mavi starring as the stoic lead. In the video, Mavi boasts his tuneful raps around a brightly-tinted home brought to life by a curious dog, a mirage of well-placed trophies, and a younger version of himself scurrying around and representing the notion of reflection and bittersweet nostalgia.

Mavi is hitting the road the latter half of this year for the High Holidays 3-date West Coast tour in December alongside an impressive cast: Curren$y,The PharcydeBuddy & Phony Ppl. He will also be joining famed producer Kenny Beats for his DON’T OVER THINK SHIT show with Rico Nasty and Paris Texas in Los Angeles on 11/5.

Sonically, Mavi aimed to have Laughing So Hard It Hurts sound almost like a “lullaby”, bringing producers like Dylvinci and Monte Booker to provide a softer and more affectionate touch to his work than in his previous efforts. Rather than wrap up his pen solely in potent critiques of the crumbling society surrounding us, Mavi decided to go another route and make this project predominately about his own existence––a task that invited him out of his creative comfort zone. With topics surrounding the lightest and darkest moments of his life, the love and support of his tight-knit community and the prospect of possibly being a family man in the future, Laughing So Hard It Hurts are the rhythmic contemplations of an MC wise beyond his years, trying to make sense of the complex path laid before him.

Watch “Doves” below: