From 'Bodies' to new albums, allow Offset and JID to reintroduce themselves

NEW YORK (AP) — On paper, the song might be an unusual pairing, or something resembling Mad Libs. Two Atlanta rappers with idiosyncratic styles — Offset's melodic, aggressive flow and the dexterous lyricist JID — speaking the same language on “Bodies.”

Their collaboration, largely recorded in China, arrives atop a sample of nu-metal band Drowning Pool's 2001 cut “Bodies.” It's become a 2025 Billboard Hot 100 hit of their own, and it doubles as an ode to self-determination — standing your ground and working toward evolution.

“As soon as he played it, it was like history,” JID says of hearing their “Bodies” for the first time. “The production is one of my favorite compositions I ever recorded over.”

It also serves as a kind of introduction of a new era for both artists, who both have new albums this month.

In the post-"Bodies” glow, JID released his fourth album, “God Does Like Ugly” last week. The title is a play on his grandmother's Southern colloquialism, “God don't like ugly.”

“It's more intentional,” he says of his new release. “The last project was more of an origin story, where I came from until now,” he says of 2022's elastic “The Forever Story.”

“This one is closer, up to date, of where I am mentally — and my perspective of the industry.”

That's immediately clear on the virtuosic “God Does Like Ugly” and its formidable list of collaborators, Clipse, Ciara, Don Toliver and Vince Staples among them.

It's also evident on the lead single, “WRK,” an examination of ambition, and the surprising run up to his album release. JID embarked on the J. Cole-inspired “Dollar & A Dream” Tour, a series of exclusive performances across the U.S., where attendees only needed to pay a buck for entry.

“I just thought it was a cool idea. A great way to be intimate and see your fans,” he says. “Getting to perform the new songs for them every night is perfect.”

Drive is certainly something the pair have in common, but when it comes to their new releases, the comparisons end there. Offset will release “Kiari,” his third solo album on Aug. 22. The title is his legal name — a direct reflection of the album he calls “a look in the mirror.” He says it's a collection of “different versions of Offset, which comes from Kiari … I'm always trying to rebrand and recreate.”

Where his last release, “Set It Off,” sought to “bring rap back, not so much melody,” as he told The Associated Press in 2023, “Kiari” combines the best of both worlds.

He says he's pulling from “life events” on the album. “It feels very personal,” he says. “Not just about what I'm speaking on, but how serious the moment in time is for me to prevail.”

“'Set It Off' was a freedom,” he adds, proof that he could shine as a solo artist outside of Migos, the group that launched his career.

“Kiari,” instead, is “me, for what I am. And recognizing who I am, because I feel like sometimes you could get lost in trying to please other people and trying to do what they want you to do. So, this is like my rebellion. My rebellion album.”

And he's got an A-list crew of collaborations helping him rebel: Not just JID, but also Gunna, Key Glock, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Ty Dolla $ign, Teezo Touchdown and perhaps most surprising of all, John Legend on the emotive “Never Let Go.” He says it is for the late Takeoff, his Migos bandmate and cousin, who died in a 2022 shooting.

“It’s a song for him,” says Offset. “The last album, I had not did a song (for him) because I couldn't during the time.”

Even still, “Never Let Go” was a challenge. “The song is beautiful. I was able to be vulnerable on the song and speak and say certain things I've never said out loud.”

“Kiari” is also Offset's first new album since the birth of his third daughter with rapper Cardi B in September, shortly after she filed for divorce from him.

It is likely fans will read the final track on the album, “Move On,” to be about their relationship. He says it's simply “about moving on peacefully. That's what the message is supposed to be: moving on peacefully.”

He chosen to end the album that way to “end that chapter, just move on. It's over and done with. It was great while it lasted. That shouldn't be the topic for neither one of us no more. It's a book that's closed.”

JID poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Offset poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

JID poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Offset poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

This combination of images shows Offset, left, and JID during a portrait session on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the Senate on Wednesday, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is all but assured to become a federally recognized tribal nation.

The state-recognized tribe, whose historic and genealogical claims have been a subject of controversy, has been seeking federal recognition for generations. Congress has considered the issue for more than 30 years, but the effort gained momentum after President Donald Trump endorsed the tribe on the campaign trail last year.

“It means a lot because we have been figuring out how to get here for so long,” said Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery moments after celebrating the victory in the Capitol office of North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. “We have been second-class Natives and we will never be that again, and no one can take it away from us.”

With federal recognition comes a bevy of federal resources, including access to new streams of federal dollars and grants and resources like the Indian Health Service. It also allows the tribe to put land into trust, which gives it more control over things like taxation and economic development, such as a casino.

In the 1980s, the Lumbee Tribe sought recognition through the Office of Federal Acknowledgement within the Interior Department, which evaluates the historical and genealogical claims of tribal applicants. The office declined to accept the application, citing a 1956 act of Congress that acknowledged the Lumbee Tribe but withheld the benefits of federal recognition.

That decision was reversed in 2016, allowing the Lumbee to pursue recognition through the federal administrative process. The tribe instead continued to seek recognition through an act of Congress.

There are 574 federally recognized tribal nations. Since the Office of Federal Acknowledgement was established in 1978, 18 have been approved by the agency, while about two dozen have gained recognition through congressional legislation. Nineteen applications ranging from Maine to Montana are now pending before the agency, with at least one under consideration by Congress.

Once federally recognized, the Lumbee Tribe would become one of the largest tribal nations in the country, with about 60,000 members. Congressional Budget Office estimates have found that providing the tribe with the necessary federal resources would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few years alone.

“Hopefully, Congress will expand the pie in appropriations so that the other tribes, many of which are poor, don’t suffer because there’s suddenly such a larger number of Native Americans in that region," said Kevin Washburn, former assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Interior Department and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Over 200 Lumbee members gathered in a gymnasium in Pembroke, North Carolina, to watch the final Senate vote on television. They celebrated with shouts, raised hands and applause as the unofficial tally indicated the bill would receive final congressional approval.

Victor Dial held his 8-month daughter Collins at the celebration. Dial’s grandfather is a late former tribal chairman.

“He told us the importance of this, and he told us this day would happen, but we didn’t know when,” Dial said. “I’m so glad my kids were here to see it.”

Not everyone in Indian Country is celebrating. The move has drawn opposition from some tribal leaders, historians and genealogists who argue that the Lumbee’s claims are unverifiable and that Congress should require the tribe to complete the formal recognition process.

“Federal recognition does not create us — it acknowledges us,” Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes, an opponent of Lumbee recognition, testified before the Senate last month. He warned against replacing historical documentation with political considerations.

Critics have noted that the Lumbee have a history of shifting claims and previously used different names, including Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, and say the tribe lacks a documented historical language.

“If identity becomes a matter of assertion rather than continuity, then this body will not be recognizing tribes, it will be manufacturing them,” Barnes told lawmakers.

The Lumbee Tribe counters that it descends from a mixture of ancestors “from the Algonquian, Iroquoian and Siouan language families,” according to its website, and notes it has been recognized by North Carolina since 1885.

While the Lumbee Tribe has received bipartisan support over the years, federal recognition became a campaign promise in 2024 for both Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during the most recent presidential race.

“He kept that promise and showed extraordinary leadership," said Tillis, the Republican senator who introduced a bill to recognize the Lumbee Tribe.

Robeson County, where most Lumbee members live, has shifted politically in recent years. Once dominated by Democrats, the socially conservative area has trended Republican. The Lumbee Tribe's members in North Carolina are an important voting block in the swing state, which Trump won by more than three points.

In January, Trump issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to develop a plan for Lumbee recognition. That plan was submitted to the White House in April, and a department spokesperson said the tribe was advised to pursue recognition through Congress.

Since then, Lowery, the tribal chairman, has worked closely with members of Congress, particularly Tillis, and appealed directly to Trump. In September, Lowery wrote to Trump announcing ancestral ties between the Lumbee Tribe and the president's daughter Tiffany Trump, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the letter.

Associated Press writers Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, Allen Breed in Pembroke, North Carolina, and Jacquelyn Martin in Washington, D.C., contributed.

John Lowery, N.C. State Rep. and Chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of N.C., center, leads a toast to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., center, front right, as members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, celebrate the passage of a bill granting their people federal recognition, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Austin Curt Thomas, 11, gets a celebratory fist bump from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., as he and his father Aaron Thomas, of Pembroke, N.C., join fellow members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, to celebrate after the passage of a bill granting their people federal recognition, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People celebrate after passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

People celebrate after passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate, during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

FILE - Members of the Lumbee Tribe bow their heads in prayer during the BraveNation Powwow and Gather at UNC Pembroke, March 22, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce, file)

People sing while playing drums during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

People celebrate after passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

People celebrate after passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

People celebrate after passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate, during a watch party hosted by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)