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Summer Jam 97

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Megan Thee Stallion — “Girls in The Hood”

Megan Thee Stallion pays homage to Eazy-E’s “Boyz-N-The-Hood” with her latest single, “Girls In The Hood.” Illadaproducer and Scott Storch handled the production on “Girls,” pulling from the original, which was produced by Dr. Dre.

Thee Stallion references the late Eric Wright’s rhymes on the song as well. “The girls in the hood are always hard,” she raps in an obvious tip-of-the-hat to Eazy’s original. “Ever since 16, I’ve been having a job / Knowing nothing in life but I gotta get rich / You can check the throwback pics, I’ve been that bitch.”

Megan has paid tribute to rappers who came before her in the past, as well. She commonly lists UGK’s Pimp C as a major influence. “Everybody knows Pimp C is my favorite,” she told Nardwuar last year. Elsewhere in the same interview, she referenced influences like DJ Screw and Three 6 Mafia.

“Girls In The Hood” comes at a major point in Megan’s career. Earlier this year, the Texas-raised rapper went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to her Beyoncé-assisted “Savage (Remix).”

Listen to “Girls In The Hood” below.

6LACK — 6pc Hot

6LACK is back. Two years after East Atlanta Love Letter, the Atlanta rapper-singer returns with a brand new EP, 6pc Hot.

The 6-song project features production from Timbaland, DJ Battlecat, Fwdslxsh, Gravez, and Nick Mira, among others. Meanwhile, Lil Baby is the effort’s lone listed featured guest on “Know My Rights.”

“Fuck the fame, roll up the dice, bet on my life, paid the price,” he rhymes on the “Know My Rights” hook. “Take no advice, I’ve been in the field, I know my wrongs and I know my rights.”

Elsewhere, 6LACK sings about his daughter’s vacations on “ATL Freestyle” and the world’s uncertainty on “Float.” “If you took me for granted, that’s a shame,” he sings on the latter cut. “Make sure you love me ‘fore the world go out in flames.”

6pc Hot is served below.

Usher — “I Cry”

Inspired by recent unrest surrounding injustice and police brutality, Usher shares a vulnerable new track, “I Cry.”

The emotional song was produced by Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman and Nasri. It features introspective lyrics about the tears Usher’s shed. “I cry for the sons without fathers and the pain that their mothers hold deep inside,” he sings. “I’ll fight for the future we’re making / We can change if we face it / ‘Cause these tears won’t dry / So, I cry.”

Usher explained that fatherhood also influenced this new single. “This song was inspired by wanting to teach my sons that it is ok for a man to feel emotions deeply and to cry,” he explained on social media. After “watching the death of George Floyd, the ongoing slaughter of Black men and women,” he says he became “very connected to the wider universal feeling of hopelessness.”

Prior to “I Cry,” Usher released “California” with Tyga and “Sex Beat” with Ludacris and Lil Jon. Stream “I Cry” below.

Lil Mosey & Lil Baby — “Back At It”

Rising rappers Lil Mosey and Lil Baby join forces on their new collaboration, “Back At It.” The hard-hitting new track was produced by Bankroll Got It, Diego Ave, and Zay Garcon.

“Yeah, I’m back at it / My wrist cost a brick, I’m makin’ moves, I’m makin’ good habits,” Mosey boasts on the track. “I’m trying to focus on bringing my mom to the hills,” he adds later in his verse. “I taught myself how to get it alone and don’t even pop no pills.”

Meanwhile, Lil Baby — who recently released the critically acclaimed single “The Bigger Picture” — talks about money and the police. “It’s a scary sight, just like a horror flick,” he raps. “They say I’ve been getting too much money, I need more of it / Seen the police coming in my rearview and I floored it.”

Mosey is currently sitting at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Blueberry Faygo.” The Callan-produced cut is off this year’s Certified Hitmaker LP, which also featured Chris Brown, Gunna, and Trippie Redd.

Get “Back At It” below.

August Alsina — The Product III: stateofEMERGEncy

After parting ways with Def Jam, August Alsina unleashes his latest project, The Product III: stateofEMERGEncy. The 27-song effort is accompanied by a 5-episode documentary and it’s also the third installment of Alsina’s Product series.

“The goal of this project is to expose myself through the art and to help others reveal their true selves. Go back into the past, bring it into the present, and positively impact our future,” Alsina wrote on social media. “Through the sharing of my own life stories, I hope to show that these things are only experiences and they do not define who we are. It is simply given to us to help us build and grow, catapulting us into our next dimension, into our newer selves.”

Alsina has been open about his health struggles leading up to Product III, which features Lil Wayne, Juicy J, Yo Gotti, and more. “I have a liver disease where my immune system is fighting against itself,” he says at one point in the stateofEMERGEncy documentary. “My liver can’t clean out the toxins in my body. So those toxins go to my brain and I get forgetful, airy, space-y, and feel like, for a lack of better terms, complete shit.”

The Product III: stateofEMERGEncy is below.

STREAMED: Meg Thee Stallion Returns With “Girls in The Hood,” 6LACK Delivers “6pc Hot,” EP & More  was originally published on cassiuslife.com