Month: July 2020

Aiming for another quick turnaround following his fourth album, 4Real 4 Real, YG has been hard at work on his upcoming fifth album which he has already revealed to be titled Laugh Now Kry Later!. In addition to its title track, YG has also shared two other singles, “Konclusions” with Kehlani, which served as an ode to love, and “FTP,” an unfiltered protest towards police brutality. While there is no word on when exactly YG’s fifth album will touch down, the Compton rapper returns with another single to ease the wait.

Confident as always, YG returns with his braggadocios demeanor for his latest single, “Swag.” Dressed in all black for the majority of the video, the bouncy track finds him confidently dancing beside a few ladies and a black Maybach with a red-painted hood. As the video continues, he continues the fun alongside some friends and a few kids while flaunting some 4Hunnid merch.

Hours before the song’s arrival, YG faced large criticism on Twitter due to the song’s artwork. On the cover, YG, dawning a replica red, white, and gold Colin Kaepernick No. 7 49ers jersey, is depicted alongside two cheerleaders who are also dressed the 49ers team colors. On the cover, the trio are depicted kneeling as a way to interestingly show support for the former quarterback who infamously kneeled during the national anthem during the 2016 NFL season. In many of the reactions, fans compared the initial cover of Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon album, which was designed by Virgil Abloh.

Listen to “Swag” in the video above.

Compared to recent years, Kid Cudi has been quite active in 2020 in sharing new music and promoting his upcoming album. The year began with Cudi appearing alongside Selena Gomez for their “A Sweeter Place” collab off her Rare album. Cudi later made his official return with his “Leader Of The Delinquents,” a track was nearly a decade old at the time of its release as Cudi had teased it during numerous tour stops over the years. Delivering another song to fans, Cudi returns with an interesting collaboration for his latest single.

Flying through with Eminem, Cudi returns with “The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady.” The track arrives after Kid Cudi called for help from the “rap god” in a tweet back in May. It turns out the guest feature was the help Cudi was looking for with Eminem supplying a lengthy verse focusing on dismissing his rap critics and unworthy hip-hop peers while taking a second to honor George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and speak against police brutality on the laid-back track.

The song marks Cudi’s third release of the year as he and Travis Scott connected for “The Scotts,” which is the title of Cudi and Travis’ newly-formed duo that. They both revealed that a joint project would arrive in the near future following the single. Cudi, along with Kanye West, also recently shared a teaser for their upcoming Kids See Ghosts animated show.

Listen to “The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady” in the video above.

Kane Brown delivered his last album in 2018 with his sophomore effort, Experiment. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, serving as his first chart-topping project. Experiment also helped him win an American Music Award for Favorite Country Male Artist in 2019 as well as several nominations across a number of award shows. In the years since the album, the Tennesse native has stayed relatively low while appearing on only a handful of singles. Preparing his third EP for a release in the near future, Kane Brown returns with a new single.

Calling on Swae Lee and Khalid, the three artists join forces for “Be Like That.” The track, which is driven by a lightly strummed electric guitar and heavy bass kicks, finds Kane, Swae, and Khalid detailing the tug and pull struggles of their relationships. Beginning by shrugging off the bad parts of the relationship, the three artists find their balance by glancing over to the good that’s occurred in their love lives. The song also marks Kane Brown and Khalid’s second collaboration as they previously worked together on a remix of Khalid’s “Saturday Nights.”

“Be Like That” arrives as Kane Brown continues work on his third EP, following 2015’s Closer and 2016’s Chapter 1. His latest release also follows April’s “Cool Again.” Speaking on the EP in an interview with Taste Of Country, he revealed that there is no timetable for its release but that it is nearly complete.

As for Swae Lee and Khalid, the track follows Swae Lee’s “Reality Check” release and Khalid’s “Experience” record with Victoria Monet and SG Lewis.

Listen to “Be Like That” above.

When film director Joel Schumacher died in late June, there was a reappraisal of a number of his sometimes contentious films. Chief among those were his two goes with the Batman franchise in the mid-’90s. At the time — and especially coming off of Tim Burton’s more brooding entries starring Michael Keaton — both Batman Forever and Batman and Robin were considered a bit too campy, even if the first, at least, proved a monster hit. But since their helmsman’s death, both have inspired renewed (or at least long-concealed) appreciation, with some making the case for them worthy of recognition, especially as queer texts made by an openly gay filmmaker.

But it turns out at least Batman Forever wasn’t always supposed to be pure neon-drenched silliness. Variety confirmed through Warner Bros. that there was once a much longer, and fairly different version of the 1995 blockbuster, which ran 170 minutes — that’s six minutes longer than the quite epic The Dark Knight Rises — and which was described by one source as a “much darker, more serious’ version of the film.”

What were some of the things lost to the cutting room floor? As per Variety:

This version opens with a sequence involving the villain Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) escaping from Arkham Asylum, and features extended scenes with the Riddler (Jim Carrey) when he invades the Batcave and uses his signature cane as a weapon. The bulk of this version’s runtime focuses on the emotional and psychological issues that led Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) to decide to become Batman, including a sequence of Wayne facing down a giant, human-sized bat.

The version that hit theaters 25 years ago was a relatively more modest 129 minutes, and though it bares traces of some of these snipped sections — including some brief flashes of Wayne’s dreams and childhood — its tone could safely be described as non-serious, and not terribly dark.

Will you ever see this bleaker Batman Forever? Who knows! Warner says they’re not even sure if all the footage from this longer version exists, and even if so, Schumacher’s no longer around to patch it back together. (Some of the footage is available as deleted scenes.) As of now, there are no plans to release a patched-together director’s cut, but never say never. After all, the same studio recently made plans to cobble together than long-demanded “Snyder Cut” of Justice League.

(Via Variety)

Despite all the bleak news that’s befallen Quibi — chief among them its severe underperformance and its almost total lack of a cultural footprint beyond mockery and doomsday profiles — founder Jeffrey Katzenberg has remained optimistic. They’re still announcing future programs, most notably Kevin Hart’s Die Hart, and they’re reportedly economically solvent for a while at least. And yet there’s still grim news, such as this: According to a new report, 90% of those who signed up for a free trial are ditching the streamer once it’s up.

This comes from The Verge, which reported on a study from mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower. According to them, the bold, mobile-based streamer signed up about 910,000 subscribers in its first days, who elected for a free three-month trial. Once that elapsed, though, only 72,000 stuck around.

That may sounds grim to the layman, but according to The Verge, that’s “not too bad.” A previous Sensor Tower report claimed that the number of initial free-trial Disney+ subscribers was a mere 11%. Thing is, Disney+ managed to wrangle 9.5 million in their initial wave — a number not even comparable to Quibi’s less-than-a-million. Besides, they managed to add tens of millions more since their early days, and now have over 50 million subscribers enjoying things like Hamilton as well as 1966’s Dean Jones dog comedy The Ugly Dachshund.

Then again, Quibi’s total numbers have also allegedly gone up. Quibi reports that 5.6 million have downloaded the app since its April launch, though Sensor Tower claims that number is closer to 4.5 million. A Quibi spokesperson is sticking by their numbers, though, saying the streamer is “above mobile app benchmarks, and we are seeing excellent conversion to paid subscribers — both among our 90-day free trial sign-ups from April, as well as our 14-day free trial sign-ups from May and June.”

Wherever the truth lies, it can be said with confidence that Quibi is at least not off to a smooth start. Katzenberg has put blame on the pandemic quarantine, which did a number on a service offering “quick bite” content, each burst lasting no more than 10 minutes, for those on the go, arriving when no one was going much of anywhere. And since much of the country may either not be going anywhere any time soon or returning to their homes during a second wave of COVID-19, all that can be said is: perhaps Kevin Hart will save the day.

(Via The Verge)

In mid-June, images of a (much) skinner Nikola Jokic took the internet by storm but, in a more serious turn, the Denver Nuggets center tested positive for COVID-19 and saw his return to the United States delayed as a result. As the Nuggets and other teams arrived in Orlando this week, Jokic was not part of Denver’s traveling party as he remains in Serbia, but, according to a report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo, he will be arriving “in the next couple of days.”

More than anything, it is great news that Jokic has the ability to make the trip to Orlando, and Haynes notes that the All-Star center is “in good health” at this juncture. Since his positive test in June, Jokic has reportedly tested negative more than once, and he has clearance to arrive at Walt Disney World to join his Nuggets teammates.

From a basketball perspective, it will be interesting to see how Jokic performs at a lesser weight, especially given his ability to use his massive frame effectively on the offensive end of the floor. Beyond that, the Nuggets are heavily reliant on Jokic offensively, and Denver could face a substantial challenge as early as round one of the Western Conference Playoffs, even as the No. 3 seed at the outset, given that the Houston Rockets currently occupy the 6-seed.

The Nuggets will begin participating in practices and scrimmages in the near future, but the team doesn’t have a “seeding game” until Aug. 1 when they square off with the Miami Heat. Given the three-week timetable between now and that start, Jokic should have time to get acclimated to playing against NBA size with his slimmer frame and back up to speed, and the Nuggets will seemingly have their centerpiece on board in the very near future.

Following criticisms of his third album, 2018’s Stay Dangerous, YG quickly returned with a fourth, 4Real 4Real, released less than a year later and which was much better received than its predecessor. The rapper has been trying to keep the momentum going, releasing a number of singles off his forthcoming new LP, “Laugh Now, Kry Later!,” due at some point this year. And singles while “FTP” and “Konclusions” were well-received, the latest one, “Swag,” was met with criticism even before people could listen to it.

The rapper took to social media to reveal the single’s artwork, but fans were not too happy about his choice of cover: YG in a red, white, and gold Colin Kaepernick No. 7 jersey, kneeling in between two cheerleaders — an homage to the quarterback’s bold yet controversial habit, during the NFL’s 2016 season, of taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality.

But many people online weren’t having it, accusing him of exploiting real anguish to merely sell records, trivializing Kaepernick’s trailblazing actions. Or maybe it’s just really, really awkward.

“Swag” is set to arrive at midnight EST. And though YG has been criticized for the single’s artwork, he and Mustard did recently deliver $100,000 worth of meals to Los Angeles residents.

When UPROXX launched People’s Party with Talib Kweli a little over one year ago, we knew the time would come for Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh to sit down with CNN anchor Don Lemon. The show’s debut was a full five years after Kweli and Lemon argued on the streets of Ferguson, MO — during the protests that followed the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer. And while the conflict itself was heated (and quickly went viral), it was borne out of a tense situation between two well-intentioned people trying to get their unique points of view across. There was no genuine bad blood.

After the police killing of George Floyd and the continued protests nationwide, it was clear that the moment for Kweli and Lemon to reconnect had arrived. Against the advice of his employers’ PR staff, Lemon agreed to join People’s Party for a special episode focused on his work on TV and podcasts, his approach to covering Donald Trump, and his unique brand of “activism journalism.”

Lemon also spoke extensively about his identity and role in the media right now. “I am a Black man who grew up in and who lives and survives and works in America — and I have a certain perspective and a certain point of view, ” he explains. “And I’m bringing that important part of the diverse culture of this company [CNN] to the fore, and I should be. I’m not biased, this is my truth as a Black man in America.”

At 20:38, the two men talk through their conflict in Ferguson. It’s a deeply engaging moment — not at all for the tabloid, “famous people fighting” aspect, but because hearing Lemon and Kweli unpack the disagreement underscores how they both feel about this current socio-political moment. They quickly agree that, in Lemon’s words, “We don’t need two black men fighting. We need to be supportive of each other.”

First, for a little background, here’s the original moment from 2014.

After talking the moment through and explaining a little of the context, Kweli and Lemon are quick to share their respect for one another.

“You’re a black brother, I love you,” Lemon says. “I love what you fight for and what you stand for and what you’ve done, and I respect that. That’s water under the bridge, brother.”

“I appreciate the love and I return it,” Kweli says.

Watch the full interview for this powerful moment of reconciliation, as well as Lemon speaking on his new podcast Silence is not an Option, winning the Native Son Award, and how he interprets the idea of being “unbiased” in the Trump age.

People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

The Atlanta Hawks announced a number of updates to their basketball operations staff on Thursday, including one history making move as Tori Miller, previously the assistant GM of Atlanta’s G League affiliate, has been promoted to general manager of the College Park Skyhawks, with Derek Pierce focusing solely on the Hawks scouting department as VP of player personnel.

The Atlanta Hawks and their NBA G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, today announced multiple promotions and a hire within the Basketball Operations group, including the promotion of Tori Miller to General Manager of the Skyhawks. Miller’s promotion establishes her as the first woman to hold the title of General Manager in the history of the NBA G League. Former Skyhawks General Manager Derek Pierce will continue to oversee Atlanta’s scouting department in his role as Vice President of Player Personnel for the Hawks.

Miller first started in the league as an intern with the Phoenix Suns in their basketball operations department before joining the Erie Bayhawks as their manager of basketball operations before the Bayhawks became the Skyhawks and she was moved into the assistant GM role. As the league looks to continue adding more diversity, both in race and gender, in front offices, Miller being elevated to a GM position in the G League is a great step as she will get an opportunity to build a team and show her abilities in a top leadership position.

When schools closed early in the spring, the entire country was thrown for a loop. Parents had to figure out what to do with their kids. Teachers had to figure out how to teach students at home. Kids had to figure out how to navigate a totally new routine that was being created and altered in real time.

For many families, it was a big honking mess—one that many really don’t want to repeat in the fall.

But at the same time, the U.S. hasn’t gotten a handle on the coronavirus pandemic. As states have begun reopening—several of them too early, according to public health officials—COVID-19 cases have risen to the point where we now have more cases per day than we did during the height of the outbreak in the spring. And yet President Trump is making a huge push to get schools to reopen fully in the fall, even threatening to possibly remove funding if they don’t.

It’s worth pointing out that Denmark and Norway had 10 and 11 new cases yesterday. Sweden and Germany had around 300 each. The U.S. had 55,000. (And no, that’s not because we’re testing thousands of times more people than those countries are.)

The president of the country’s largest teacher’s union had something to say about Trump’s push to reopen schools. Lily Eskelsen Garcia says that schools do need to reopen, but they need to be able to reopen safely—with measures that will help keep both students and teachers from spreading the virus and making the pandemic worse. (Trump has also criticized the CDCs “very tough & expensive guidelines” for reopening schools.)

Garcia indicated that she doubted Trump would be willing to do what he’s asking teachers to do. “I double dog dare Donald Trump to sit in a class of 39 sixth graders and breath that air without any preparation for how we’re going to bring our kids back safely,” she told CNN’s New Day.

Indeed, safety is the watchword of the day. Most people want to be able to send their kids back to school, but they also want to not feel terrified to do so.

There are also myriad questions that have been raised about schools reopening, which no one seems to have good answers for:

– What if a student tests positive? Do all the other students and their teachers have to then isolate for 14 days?

– If a teacher has to stay home for 14 days, do they have to use sick days for that?

– What if a teacher tests positive? Do all of their students have to isolate? If not, who will teach the class, knowing that the students have been exposed?

– What about teachers in middle schools or high schools who teach 150 different kids throughout the day. Do all of those kids have to quarantine if they find out the teacher’s positive and they’ve been exposed?

– What about teachers who are married to other teachers? If one has to quarantine, won’t the other one as well, thereby removing two teachers from the system?

The logistics of setting up a classroom and/or online learning to accommodate public health guidelines is trick enough. But the questions about what happens if someone actually gets the virus in an in-person school situation is enough to make your head spin.

It’s hard. We can’t just toss up our hands and say, “Welp, no school for the foreseeable future,” but we also can’t toss up our hands and say, “Pandemic? Oh well, back to normal!” There simply aren’t any good answers, which is immensely frustrating on all fronts.

Actually, there is a good answer, but we’d have to go back in time and have entirely different leadership at the beginning of the pandemic in order to get to it. And unfortunately, we’re stuck where we are, with rising cases, a willy-nilly approach to slowing it down, and no solid plan for safely sending kids and teachers back to school. Let’s at least make sure we’re being as smart as possible and listening to health experts as we try to navigate our way through this totally uncertain season.