Justina Valentine is a New Jersey rapper and TV personality best known as a quick-witted standout on Nick Cannon’s Wild ’N Out (she’s been on the show since 2016). For her 2025 Rap Up, she teams up with The Shade Room, turning the year’s biggest headlines into one long, social-media-style recap. And while it feels brand-new compared to the long-running OG tradition Mad Skillz made famous (he’s been doing “Rap Ups” since 2002), Justina’s Shade Room version has actually been running since at least 2023, with 2024 and now 2025 continuing the streak.
Content-wise, she casts a wide net—almost like she’s scrolling your feed out loud. In the lyrics you can hear her bounce from politics (Trump’s return, “Gulf of America”), to scary real-world news (plane crashes, LA fires), to pop culture chaos (Beyoncé winning big, Kendrick’s Super Bowl moment and the Drake diss, Taylor Swift’s engagement). She hits plenty of the same “Rap Up” checkpoints the blurb lists—Diddy’s legal mess and Cassie allegations, R. Kelly’s prison photos, Serena’s viral dance moment, Tory Lanez surviving a stabbing, relationship drama, sports arguments, and media shakeups. It really does play like a time capsule: if it trended, she tried to squeeze it in.
But compared to the best Rap Ups (and especially compared to Mad Skillz’s 2025 Rap Up, who usually sounded reflective and story-like), this one can feel flatter—more “headline reading” than “performance.” The rhyme count is high, but the personality doesn’t always pop, and the bars don’t hit as hard as the subject matter wants them to. That said, the Shade Room partnership explains the vibe: it’s built to be fast, shareable, and packed with references, not necessarily the sharpest rap showcase. If Uncle Murda’s 2025 Rap Up is a loud argument at the barbershop, Justina’s 2025 Rap Up is more like the group chat summary—efficient, crowded, and occasionally funny, but not the one you replay for the punchlines.
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