BET nominated, Billboard congratulated, and all-around rising R&B star kwn joins us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In, telling Poet Taylor about her new single, "do what i say," working with Kehlani, and the importance of being "unapologetically yourself."

"I like to just get straight to the point, which is crazy cause I'm actually a shy person," kwn admits about her music. "I'm a bit introverted until you break me down and get to know me, so I put it all out in my music."

"I'm the person in the back of the room being very observant of everyone around me, but I think the confidence just comes from me just being myself and not letting anybody steer me away from who I am and who I'm trying to be."

The latest offering, the commanding, "not asking twice" track, "do what i say" is the latest to capture the attention of fans, after kwn's collab with Kehlani on "worst behaviour" and opening for her on tour, served as an introduction to many. "As soon as we came up with the idea for the video, we were like, it's obviously gonna do something to the world," kwn reveals about the steamy visual with Kehlani. "The response was insane. I'm super grateful for it. Obviously there's been some bad stuff, but there's all of the good stuff is like overwritten all of that."

That response ranged from "bad stuff" to love, to someone even offering up a family member to kwn in the DMs. "Somebody DM'ed me and said, 'I'd like to volunteer my mum for a night with you,'" kwn shares. "That threw me all the way off. That was insane."

For more on kwn's relationship with Kehlani, her upcoming EP, and staying authentic, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

Rise Against have offered up a few glimpses of what's next with scorching singles, "Nod," and "Prizefighter." This week we get yet another, with the commanding "I Want It All," and details on a new album, 'RICOCHET,' due out August 15. Now, frontman Tim McIlrath dives in during an Audacy Check In to talk about the new track, shared experiences, 25 years of Rise Against, and more.

"I think raw is a perfect word," Tim tells Abe Kanan about the new song, "I Want It All."

"I think we captured a lot of it live. We were like kind of just going with the energy of it, just not overthinking it. It's a burst of energy of a song, we wanted it to have that kind of vibe," he adds. "I'm looking forward to really sinking my teeth into it on stage."

"I Want It All" is the latest preview of the band's upcoming album, 'RICOCHET,' and the band will get plenty of chances to bring that raw energy to the stage, with a co-headlining tour with Papa Roach this fall. "I think that's just something that's just in our DNA since we first started playing in this band, like being respectful of the music," Tim says of Rise Against's live show. "And then playing music that doesn't allow you to phone it in, you know what I mean? Like the music, it just, it kind of gets a hold of you and it makes you really live through it."

For much more from Tim and Rise Against, listen to the full Audacy Check In above.

Justice recently joined us in the studio for an Audacy Check In, talking with Bru about their hit with Tame Impala, "Neverender," and what's next for the French dance duo.

Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay say 2025 is flying by, thanks in part to the whirlwind success of their song, "Neverender."

"When we wrote the song, like the three of us, we felt good about it," admits Xavier de Rosnay. "It's only when we played it at Coachella last year before the album release, so the song was not known, that we saw that people had an immediate reaction on something they don't know, which we took as a good omen."

"We always say that it is a collective hallucination. You don't know why your song makes it somewhere. It's just that at some point there's a bunch of people who think, 'oh, this is what I want to hear,' and this is something that we don't really have any control over, so it's cool."

Part of the secret to Justice's success lies in their work ethic, and willingness to let it breathe. "Our secret is that we take vacations every other week," shares Xavier. "We would work one week on the record, then take one week off, then come back just in order to always be a bit fresh and also wanting to go there because when you spend too much time not stopping, then you start like saturating and focusing on maybe the wrong details."

That fresh mind helped the duo dig deep into the details, some that come blaring through your speakers, and others that are more hidden along the way. "There is a beer bottle hidden somewhere on the record," smiles Gaspard Augé. "The percussion that you hear in your left ear on 'Neverender' is made with a beer bottle," follows Xavier. "At the end when we recorded some of the parts to produce the song. We had a drummer make some tracks, and we told him, because we demoed it as a triangle, we told him, 'OK, can you play that with a triangle?' And he listened to the track and he said, 'No, I'm gonna do it with a beer bottle. Give me a beer.'"

"So he drank the beer and then he played it just with a beer bottle and we have a video of this actually. He's an amazing drummer, every time you hear live drums on the record, that's him. And he's a classical musician, then he was playing in jazz band, so he's a jazz drummer. And, we love people who are not afraid of doing things a bit differently."

Don't miss our full Audacy Check In with Justice above.

One of the most iconic forces in all of Hip-Hop history joins us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York, as Chuck D sits down for an Audacy Check In to talk about the making of his new album, 'Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio: Radio Armageddon,' his journey through Hip-Hop, and much more.

The Public Enemy frontman remains one of the most important voices in music, and he has returned with more wisdom on wax for his latest offering. According to Def Jam, 'Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio: Radio Armageddon,' is "the return of the voice that never left. Chuck D delivers a seismic broadcast of truth, rhythm, and resistance—uniting Hip-Hop’s pioneers and new generations alike in a fearless soundtrack for the times."

During his talk with DJ Scratch, Chuck confirmed, "when you hear me actually on the record as an MC, it's not like a Public Enemy record. It's more like I'm MCing rappers coming in."

"'Radio Armageddon' has no beginning and end to it," reveals Chuck D. "It's not really like an MC record as opposed [to] like, it's damn near like a radio station with acid poured on it."

The legendary rapper did take it back to the beginning during his talk with DJ Scratch, looking back on his first moments on the mic at Adelphi. "I was rhyming at my college, Adelphi, just to shut people up from grabbing the mic cause I wanna get my dance on."

"They had an open mic and everybody from Brooklyn, the Bronx, cause that's where Adelphi was. Everybody from all over, they thought automatically that, what they heard in the summer, people getting on the mic and rocking it, they thought that cause they was from the place that they get on the mic too, and most people on an open mic was terrible."

"So I was like, you know what, 'that mic is gonna be open. I'm gonna get on that mic, and I'm gonna sit everybody down.' So there'd be a long line trying to get the mic. They'd be playing 'Love Is The Message,' 'Good Times,' or whatever. I get the mic sure enough, there's nobody behind me. Nobody wanna touch the mic after I'm on it."

From college parties to the biggest stages around the world, the link between was Public Enemy, as D also reflected on his first meetings with Flava Flav and Terminator X. "We were all participants on WBAU and Adelphi Radio, and we was the first to actually integrate ourselves in radio playing Rap records, playing Rap records and talking about them. We were very scientific about it. And we became the radio station that Run-D.M.C. listened to because it was right over in Hollis, and then Curtis Blow and all, we were doing our thing in Long Island and in the city they wasn't playing Rap as much as us and breaking it down."

"We didn't wanna make records, but when we made records... I wanted to emulate World's Famous Supreme Team, cause I thought what World's Famous Supreme Team was doing at WHBI... I thought that that chaotic, everything was something, that's something that turned me on."

Hear much more from our deep dive with Chuck D and DJ Scratch in the full Audacy Check In above.

Five Finger Death Punch are on the verge of a major milestone, and joined us for an Audacy Check In to talk about it, along with the release of their updated version of "I Refuse," featuring Maria Brink of In This Moment.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Las Vegas band, and they are celebrating by releasing, 'Best Of – Volume 1,' a collection of re-recorded versions of their biggest songs, with "I Refuse" being the first taste for fans. The project is also a direct response to the recent sale of the band’s original master recordings by their former label.

"You live in those songs. There was no problem with the song to begin with. So that's a challenge to like, 'whoa, it was already great' in my opinion. All these songs, we are proud of them," explains guitarist Zoltan Bathory to Audacy's Abe Kanan. "So that's a challenge. How do we reimagine it for 2025? How do we do this? And you'll hear it. We put the work in."

FFDP had their masters sold by their label, so Zoltan and company went to route of Taylor Swift and re-recorded their own versions of their biggest songs. "From business perspective, from the record label side, it's a move on the chessboard, right? And now this is our move now, you know."

"It's gonna be the anniversary version. It's a 2025 anniversary version, so that's what we want to call them, 'the anniversary version,'" Bathory shares. "Taylor Swift has a rabid fan base, right? A very hardcore fan base. So when she put [out] the new songs, the fan base just simply switched to the new streams. It just happens so that we have probably the craziest fans on the planet. I mean, these guys are with us since day one, literally, and they're hardcore. It's the most loyal fanbase, so probably the same thing gonna happen."

'Best Of – Volume 1' will be available across all streaming platforms on July 18, and will also be released worldwide in physical CD and vinyl formats.

To hear so much more from Zoltan including a look into his Jiu-Jitsu Castle, and his philosophy on life, check out the full Audacy Check In conversation above.

Life has been anything but "Ordinary" for Alex Warren these last few weeks, as our Audacy 'LAUNCH' artist continues to rise with his hit topping the Global Billboard chart, as well as on the verge of potentially being the number one song in the country. During an Audacy Check In from the Hard Rock Hotel New York, Warren weighed in on his success, and the high praise he has received from artists like Ed Sheeran.

'It's definitely terrifying a little bit, but it's just exciting," Alex admits of the ubiquitous nature of his song. "I think I wrote these songs in my bedroom with my friends and to be able to hear them everywhere and see people apply them to their real life is, it's feels special."

After a string of ups and downs, success has landed squarely on Warren, who credits the tough times to be able to meet this moment, both as a person and a songwriter. "I do think that everything I've gone through has allowed me to be able to handle this, but also write about it," he tells Audacy's Emily West. "I think I've just been able to turn a really bad situation and turn it into something beautiful that can help people."

Along with the accolades from fans, there's been a few famous faces to vocally show support for Alex Warren, including Joe Jonas and Ed Sheeran.

"A lot of people ask me about like 'I made it moments' and I think with Ed, for people who don't know Ed is the reason, a lot of the reason, why I started writing songs. I've been so inspired by all his music and when I go in to write songs, I'm always like, 'I wish I wrote a song like that,' and it's so flattering for him to say that, he wished he wrote a song like mine."

"I'm blown away by it and it does not feel real and I'm waiting for someone to slap me in the face."

Since their moment singing together, Ed has continued to keep in touch with Alex. "He's like the most supportive person, we email every day," Warren says of the notoriously phone-free Sheeran. "I feel bad. I'm bothering him every day and he just responds. I'm like that kid who won't stop pestering him."

Don't miss our full Audacy Check In with Alex Warren above.

98 Degrees are back and taking control, re-recording their biggest hits and offering fans new music with their new album, 'Full Circle.' As part of the celebration, they stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel New York to talk all about it with Mike Adam.

With over 15 million albums sold worldwide, 98 Degrees are one of the most successful vocal groups of all time, and now they are entering a new era where they own their own work, and work to build a new chapter for fans across every generation.

'Full Circle' features 5 new tracks alongside re- recordings of their biggest hits. "We wanted to kind of give back to the fans what they fell in love with in the beginning, and that was how those songs sounded," Jeff Timmons says of the re-recording process. "They sounded like that for a reason. Now, obviously, throughout the years, our voices have changed and, we've performed them so many times with new inflections on them and we try to change them up, but I also remember being a fan and going and seeing concerts and I would hate when the artists would do that. So we tried to keep the integrity of the originals. And it wasn't easy because times have changed, our voices have changed, production has changed, but we feel like we accomplished it on these."

"And that's the challenge, right? Vocally it's a challenge because we don't sound, as Jeff said, we don't sound like we did back in 1997," says Nick Lachey, "but recreating that track and trying to match that track and find those sounds, and it's trickier than I think we thought it was gonna be going into it. It was definitely a challenge to make it happen, but Jeff said, we're really proud of how it came out and proud of how close we got to those originals."

Hear more about the album and what the four members have been up to during our Audacy Check In with 98 Degrees above.

Hot off the release of his new album, 'blame the chat,' DDG is with us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York to talk about it all, sitting down with DJ Buck and Big Regg for an Audacy Check In.

Featuring guest spots from Ty Dolla $ign, Rich the Kid, Offset, Rob49, BIA, Wiz Khalifa, DaBaby, Queen Naija, and Shenseea, 'blame the chat' is star-studded and blasts the artist to new heights. "I just rock with who rock with me," DDG reveals. "I don't like to force collabs, I don't like to force features, none of that. I just like to keep everything organic. Whoever rocking with me that's who i wanted to walk through the door."

That door was to DDG's 7 day live stream "Hit-A-Thon," which saw the rising rapper putting together his latest effort in real time. "It's more fun, I would say, to create live. You're getting live feedback. They know what they're getting right then and there," he shares. "Even with my album, most of the people that watch the 'Hit-A-Thon,' they heard me make the song, but even when I drop the album it still sounds refreshing, it still feels new, because when you make the song it ain't mixed, it ain't mastered, it ain't got that them extra drums. It's something new still, so it's cool."

"I feel like I'm just all around more of a polished artist," DDG says of his evolution since first landing on people's radar. "I just think more technical these days about how my music come out."

"The chat" is a big part of DDG's come up into a new level, and it's not something he takes lightly, saying he "cracked the code" by involving those fans in the way he makes music. "I used to make music for people that didn't listen to me, that was my problem. Now I make music for people that listen to me and then I will let them be the ones to advocate for me."

"I feel like a lot of my music career I was chasing the streams and the support from people that don't want to like me no matter what, but now I'm set, like if I only got a thousand streams on a song, I'm gonna make music for those people that stream, that thousand, and then eventually it's gonna grow."

Don't miss more from DDG, check out the full Audacy Check In above.