Lil Uzi Vert’s relationship with his record label has seen better times.
At the beginning of 2019, Lil Uzi Vert announced that he was retiring. He was frustrated with his label situation and with the hoops he needed to go through to drop new music. In an Instagram post he said, “I deleted everything I wanna be normal. I wanna wake up in 2013.” This frustration was not exactly new to Uzi, who preferred to release music when he felt like it, instead of adhering to the outdated and often slow release schedule the music industry typically adheres to. After losing his phone while crowd surfing at his own show a couple years ago, he more or less lost the files to an entire album, and decided to just drop some of the songs on SoundCloud instead. The appeal of the instant connection of this method is obvious, and Uzi knows how to write a hit without label interference.
In a just world, we’d have some version of Uzi’s sophomore album, Eternal Atake, by now. It is still extremely odd that one of the biggest rap stars around has released such a small amount of music since the buzz around him began to surge, then surpassed critical mass. Uzi, like Young Thug or Gucci Mane or Lil Wayne, can be extraordinarily prolific, often writing and recording songs faster than a label can figure out what to do with them. It makes sense that he’d want to release songs or albums as they’re finished, without any delay. In the modern rap landscape, artistic evolution happens in plain sight. Process is laid bare. Quantity is conflated with quality, and it doesn’t even matter. Don’t like one mixtape? That’s okay, there’s another one right around the corner.
Which brings us to “Free Uzi,” a song that Uzi’s label, Atlantic Records, says is actually a leak (notably, it’s not currently available on Spotify or Apple Music) — one which Uzi himself is reportedly (and unsubtly) responsible for. (Coincidentally, he promoted the song on his previously blacked-out Instagram at the same time the song leaked and, later, shared an official music video. The song is also currently available on Tidal, which is famously owned by Jay-Z, whose label Roc Nation has reportedly intervened to manage Uzi’s career going forward.) The title is self-explanatory, and the song is a furious three minutes of breathless rapping, a reminder that Uzi’s got an uncanny sense of melody and timing, and is firmly part of the Philadelphia lineage of rappers who are really good at sounding like they don’t really ever need to breathe.
Even without all the label drama and retirement rumors (did anyone really believe Uzi was really going to retire? How many artists in the history of music have actually stopped making music forever after they said they were going to?), “Free Uzi” is a compelling song. It doesn’t feel like a single. It doesn’t have the undeniable hook of, say, “XO Tour Lif3,” but that also doesn’t really matter. Uzi now exists in a rarified space where the demand for new music from him far outstrips the available inventory. His influence looms large enough that a song like “Free Uzi” can take on a sort of instant cult status. The story behind the song means more than the song itself. Luckily “Free Uzi” is worth more than a few listens anyway.
In January, the Luve Is Rage 2 rapper – real name Symere Woods – stated he was “done with music.” Then, a day later, he backtracked from his comments, pinning the blame solely on Generation Now.
According to a report published late last year, the rapper had confirmed that he has finished his new album, Eternal Atake.
At a Philadelphia performance, he reportedly told fans, “I’m finally done with that joint.” Yet, he didn’t drop a tracklist, nor did he offer a specific release date, presumably thanks to ongoing problems with Generation Now.
Originally, DJ Drama and Don Cannon, the label’s heads, signed Uzi to the Atlantic Records imprint.
So, to take on his label, Uzi took Generation Now head-on. Posting a ‘Free Uzi’ campaign on social media, the move appears to have worked. On Wednesday, Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s imprint, officially added the rapper to its roster.
The move immediately led to the release of ‘Free Now,’ Uzi’s first new music in 2019. The song remains available only on SoundCloud and TIDAL.
Taking a veiled swipe at Generation Now, the rapper sings,
“I can’t trust none of these n—s, might turn on me. / I’m still a millionaire, this s—t not hurtin’ me. / But, it’s hurtin’ you.”
Uzi also alluded to his problems with the IRS.
“Had to get my business together. / I had $3 million in taxes. / I got it all off on this level. / They said it’s $3 million missing. / I ain’t say nothing, I stay level.”
The song doesn’t appear on Jay-Z’s TIDAL with an Atlantic Records attribution. Instead, confirming the song’s release, an Atlantic spokesperson confirmed the track’s appearance as a “leak.”
According to a source, neither Generation Now nor Atlantic have allowed the rapper to release new music, leading people to suspect he dropped his own song without permission. After all, he uploaded the track to his own social media accounts.
Atlantic has refused to comment on the ongoing situation.
That hasn’t stopped diehard fans, though, from pushing the rapper to drop his latest album.
An unknown leaker dropped a fake version of Eternal Atake this week on streaming music services under the name Symere Wood (sans the ‘s’). The album nearly hit the top spot on Apple Music and Spotify’s charts. The fake album featured the original album artwork.
Apple Music and Spotify swiftly removed Eternal Atake.
Despite announcing his seeming retirement from music earlier this year, Lil Uzi Vert returned on Thursday (March 28) with a new song called "Free Uzi" — a surprise as it didn't come via the regular avenue of music delivery. The song appeared on SoundCloud on a new account named, fittingly, "freeuzi." It's a grand return for a rapper re-energized and hopefully the first step in a path toward his official reintroduction.
"Free Uzi" is a three-minute Uzi frenzy. The rapper sounds hungrier than ever, returning to his gripping freefall of a flow as he opens up to fans about some of his issues, being on the hook for $3 million in taxes the biggest of them. His rapping approaches Jack Nicholson's Joker in levels of intensity. The track's beat is the same one used for G Herbo's 2012 song (going by Lil Herb then) "Gangway" and its fast and chaotic and nature matches this newer, hungrier Uzi perfectly. His voice is also pitched up higher so it adds to the feeling of weightlessness.
The song also arrived with an accompanying video on YouTube that doesn't have the bells and whistles of his past releases, instead opting for something more down to earth. He wears a hat the entire time but we're able to get a peek at what his dread-less head looks like thanks to his new afro desperately fighting for space under his cap. His haircut, to many, signaled that his "retirement" was finalized, but now it looks like he's just closed the book on that chapter of his life.
Even more intriguing is that the song's arrival was called a "leak" by Uzi's label, Atlantic Records, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork report. A source also told Rolling Stone that Uzi himself was the one behind its release — and a link to "Free Uzi" appears in Lil Uzi's Instagram bio.
If you haven’t typed and deleted a strongly worded Instagram comment directed at Generation Now label heads DJ Drama and Don Cannon, are you really a Lil Uzi Vert fan? The last year has been a stressful time in Lil Uzi fandom, almost two years since his 2017 album Luv Is Rage 2—a generation ago in internet time. His follow-up, Eternal Atake, has yet to see the light of day and all fingers point toward issues with Generation Now and Instagram posts from Uzi hinting at a possible new alliance with Roc Nation. But, honestly, really, who cares? We just want music from our favorite pint-sized, eye-rolling, Philly Woah-dancing king. And thankfully Uzi returns by taking us back to the early days of drill on “Free Uzi” by hopping on DJ L’s G Herbo “Gangway” beat.
Spitting on drill production is a rebirth for Uzi. The woozy melodies of his early career could be attributed to Chief Keef and Uzi rapping over fast-paced drums can be traced back to the influence G Herbo and Lil Bibby’s iconic “Kill Shit” had on Uzi’s younger self. The DJ L production on “Free Uzi” sounds a lot like 2012, yet it’s not dated. Uzi wears his influences on his sleeve, but still layers the song with his own stylistic touch, like pitched-up delivery that sounds like a slow descent into madness—a choice popularized by Uzi, Playboi Carti, and Unotheactivist. And though the song’s production is from Chicago and the video looks like New York, his bars still drip with a distinct Philly confidence and passion, the kind that allows him to get away with bars like: “I still watch Big Bang Theory, that’s the nerd in me.” It’s a song that doesn’t disappoint and for fans, is a sigh of relief: Lil Uzi Vert is finally free.
At the beginning of 2019, Lil Uzi Vert announced that he was retiring. He was frustrated with his label situation and with the hoops he needed to go through to drop new music. In an Instagram post he said, “I deleted everything I wanna be normal. I wanna wake up in 2013.” This frustration was not exactly new to Uzi, who preferred to release music when he felt like it, instead of adhering to the outdated and often slow release schedule the music industry typically adheres to. After losing his phone while crowd surfing at his own show a couple years ago, he more or less lost the files to an entire album, and decided to just drop some of the songs on SoundCloud instead. The appeal of the instant connection of this method is obvious, and Uzi knows how to write a hit without label interference.
In a just world, we’d have some version of Uzi’s sophomore album, Eternal Atake, by now. It is still extremely odd that one of the biggest rap stars around has released such a small amount of music since the buzz around him began to surge, then surpassed critical mass. Uzi, like Young Thug or Gucci Mane or Lil Wayne, can be extraordinarily prolific, often writing and recording songs faster than a label can figure out what to do with them. It makes sense that he’d want to release songs or albums as they’re finished, without any delay. In the modern rap landscape, artistic evolution happens in plain sight. Process is laid bare. Quantity is conflated with quality, and it doesn’t even matter. Don’t like one mixtape? That’s okay, there’s another one right around the corner.
Which brings us to “Free Uzi,” a song that Uzi’s label, Atlantic Records, says is actually a leak (notably, it’s not currently available on Spotify or Apple Music) — one which Uzi himself is reportedly (and unsubtly) responsible for. (Coincidentally, he promoted the song on his previously blacked-out Instagram at the same time the song leaked and, later, shared an official music video. The song is also currently available on Tidal, which is famously owned by Jay-Z, whose label Roc Nation has reportedly intervened to manage Uzi’s career going forward.) The title is self-explanatory, and the song is a furious three minutes of breathless rapping, a reminder that Uzi’s got an uncanny sense of melody and timing, and is firmly part of the Philadelphia lineage of rappers who are really good at sounding like they don’t really ever need to breathe.
Even without all the label drama and retirement rumors (did anyone really believe Uzi was really going to retire? How many artists in the history of music have actually stopped making music forever after they said they were going to?), “Free Uzi” is a compelling song. It doesn’t feel like a single. It doesn’t have the undeniable hook of, say, “XO Tour Lif3,” but that also doesn’t really matter. Uzi now exists in a rarified space where the demand for new music from him far outstrips the available inventory. His influence looms large enough that a song like “Free Uzi” can take on a sort of instant cult status. The story behind the song means more than the song itself. Luckily “Free Uzi” is worth more than a few listens anyway.
In January, the Luve Is Rage 2 rapper – real name Symere Woods – stated he was “done with music.” Then, a day later, he backtracked from his comments, pinning the blame solely on Generation Now.
According to a report published late last year, the rapper had confirmed that he has finished his new album, Eternal Atake.
At a Philadelphia performance, he reportedly told fans, “I’m finally done with that joint.” Yet, he didn’t drop a tracklist, nor did he offer a specific release date, presumably thanks to ongoing problems with Generation Now.
Originally, DJ Drama and Don Cannon, the label’s heads, signed Uzi to the Atlantic Records imprint.
So, to take on his label, Uzi took Generation Now head-on. Posting a ‘Free Uzi’ campaign on social media, the move appears to have worked. On Wednesday, Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s imprint, officially added the rapper to its roster.
The move immediately led to the release of ‘Free Now,’ Uzi’s first new music in 2019. The song remains available only on SoundCloud and TIDAL.
Taking a veiled swipe at Generation Now, the rapper sings,
“I can’t trust none of these n—s, might turn on me. / I’m still a millionaire, this s—t not hurtin’ me. / But, it’s hurtin’ you.”
Uzi also alluded to his problems with the IRS.
“Had to get my business together. / I had $3 million in taxes. / I got it all off on this level. / They said it’s $3 million missing. / I ain’t say nothing, I stay level.”
The song doesn’t appear on Jay-Z’s TIDAL with an Atlantic Records attribution. Instead, confirming the song’s release, an Atlantic spokesperson confirmed the track’s appearance as a “leak.”
According to a source, neither Generation Now nor Atlantic have allowed the rapper to release new music, leading people to suspect he dropped his own song without permission. After all, he uploaded the track to his own social media accounts.
Atlantic has refused to comment on the ongoing situation.
That hasn’t stopped diehard fans, though, from pushing the rapper to drop his latest album.
An unknown leaker dropped a fake version of Eternal Atake this week on streaming music services under the name Symere Wood (sans the ‘s’). The album nearly hit the top spot on Apple Music and Spotify’s charts. The fake album featured the original album artwork.
Apple Music and Spotify swiftly removed Eternal Atake.
Despite announcing his seeming retirement from music earlier this year, Lil Uzi Vert returned on Thursday (March 28) with a new song called "Free Uzi" — a surprise as it didn't come via the regular avenue of music delivery. The song appeared on SoundCloud on a new account named, fittingly, "freeuzi." It's a grand return for a rapper re-energized and hopefully the first step in a path toward his official reintroduction.
"Free Uzi" is a three-minute Uzi frenzy. The rapper sounds hungrier than ever, returning to his gripping freefall of a flow as he opens up to fans about some of his issues, being on the hook for $3 million in taxes the biggest of them. His rapping approaches Jack Nicholson's Joker in levels of intensity. The track's beat is the same one used for G Herbo's 2012 song (going by Lil Herb then) "Gangway" and its fast and chaotic and nature matches this newer, hungrier Uzi perfectly. His voice is also pitched up higher so it adds to the feeling of weightlessness.
The song also arrived with an accompanying video on YouTube that doesn't have the bells and whistles of his past releases, instead opting for something more down to earth. He wears a hat the entire time but we're able to get a peek at what his dread-less head looks like thanks to his new afro desperately fighting for space under his cap. His haircut, to many, signaled that his "retirement" was finalized, but now it looks like he's just closed the book on that chapter of his life.
Even more intriguing is that the song's arrival was called a "leak" by Uzi's label, Atlantic Records, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork report. A source also told Rolling Stone that Uzi himself was the one behind its release — and a link to "Free Uzi" appears in Lil Uzi's Instagram bio.
If you haven’t typed and deleted a strongly worded Instagram comment directed at Generation Now label heads DJ Drama and Don Cannon, are you really a Lil Uzi Vert fan? The last year has been a stressful time in Lil Uzi fandom, almost two years since his 2017 album Luv Is Rage 2—a generation ago in internet time. His follow-up, Eternal Atake, has yet to see the light of day and all fingers point toward issues with Generation Now and Instagram posts from Uzi hinting at a possible new alliance with Roc Nation. But, honestly, really, who cares? We just want music from our favorite pint-sized, eye-rolling, Philly Woah-dancing king. And thankfully Uzi returns by taking us back to the early days of drill on “Free Uzi” by hopping on DJ L’s G Herbo “Gangway” beat.
Spitting on drill production is a rebirth for Uzi. The woozy melodies of his early career could be attributed to Chief Keef and Uzi rapping over fast-paced drums can be traced back to the influence G Herbo and Lil Bibby’s iconic “Kill Shit” had on Uzi’s younger self. The DJ L production on “Free Uzi” sounds a lot like 2012, yet it’s not dated. Uzi wears his influences on his sleeve, but still layers the song with his own stylistic touch, like pitched-up delivery that sounds like a slow descent into madness—a choice popularized by Uzi, Playboi Carti, and Unotheactivist. And though the song’s production is from Chicago and the video looks like New York, his bars still drip with a distinct Philly confidence and passion, the kind that allows him to get away with bars like: “I still watch Big Bang Theory, that’s the nerd in me.” It’s a song that doesn’t disappoint and for fans, is a sigh of relief: Lil Uzi Vert is finally free.