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Raekwon Is Ready To Turn ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’ Into A Trilogy

On the 25th anniversary of his seminal solo debut, Raekwon made an announcement sure to excite longtime Wu-Tang Clan fans: He’s planning to release a sequel to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…. However, it won’t just be a run-of-the-mill add-on to cash in on the name of his most highly regarded project. As Rae told Rap Radar and Tidal’s Elliott Wilson, he’ll be using the latest installment to “close that trilogy,” ensuring that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. III will be a special event.

Initially, Raekwon used the Tidal interview to discuss the making of the first Cuban Linx — affectionately known as “The Purple Tape” among fans — sharing behind-the-scenes stories from the recording sessions and reflecting on its legacy 25 years later. However, at the end of the discussion, Rae said, “Listen, I’m gonna make an announcement. You ready?”

“It’s time we closed that trilogy out,” he announced. “You know what it is. It’s time to close that trilogy.” Of course, there was only one project he could be referring to, after releasing the latest installment in the Cuban Linx series back 2009. The use of the term “trilogy” is apt; the initial Cuban Linx was envisioned as a film parallel, with Rae as the star, Ghostface Killah as “guest star,” and the RZA as the “director.” The album wound up popularizing mafioso rap and introducing Wu-Tang associate member Cappadonna.

While Rae didn’t reveal when he’d be closing out the trilogy, hopefully fans won’t have to wait for a full fourteen years between installments again. He previously discussed the possibility of a Cuban Linx… Pt. III with Uproxx in 2017. Watch Rae’s conversation with Elliott Wilson and announcement above.

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John Legend Brings A ‘Bigger Love’ To His At-Home Tiny Desk Concert

EGOT achiever John Legend shared his stirring seventh studio record in June. Legend’s album Bigger Love emanates his feel-good energy, and he brought the same vibes to his at-home NPR Tiny Desk set.

Backed by a full band, three back-up singers, and a light-up plaque that reads, “Speak your truth even if your voice sinks,” Legend gave an uplifting four-track set. The singer opened with a rendition of his album opener “Ooh La,” which he describes as “a little doo-wop meets trap.” Next, Legend showcased his knockout vocals with “Wild” which, according to him, is “a good song for babies to dance to — you might want to get married to it, too, if you’re so inclined.”

Legend ended his set with a soaring performance of his title track, “Bigger Love.” Introducing the song, Legend said his music has taken on a whole new meaning in post-pandemic life:

“I wrote all the songs before the pandemic, before we saw folks marching in the streets, mourning (the) life of George Floyd, expressing their outrage. But some of these songs feel even more appropriate now, feel like we need them more now then we did even when I wrote them. This song ‘Bigger Love’ is about the power of love to get us through tough times, the idea that when you have love, it makes you more resilient, it makes you more hopeful And we all need a little dance break, too, right?”

Watch Legend’s at-home Tiny Desk concert above.

Bigger Love is out now via Columbia. Get it here.

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Cardi B Says She’s Partnering With OnlyFans And Teases How She’ll Use The Platform

Last night, Cardi B shared a six-second video of herself posing in lingerie and saying, “I got an announcement to make tomorrow.” She also captioned the post, “Announcement tomorrow.” Well, today is yesterday’s tomorrow, and on the other side of midnight, Cardi came through with some news.

In a now-deleted tweet, Cardi wrote, “I’m doing a partnership with only fans .Everytime some1 start a rumor I will be addressing it there …..what else should I post besides rumors and behind the scenes ? Maybe a video of me cleaning my home with my nails ?”

@iamcardib/Twitter

Either Cardi re-thought her decision, let the cat out of the bag too soon and tried to get it back in, or did something else, because that tweet has since been deleted. However, that apparently wasn’t actually the news she was teasing: A fan asked, “This the announcement,” to which Cardi responded simply, “No.”

Whether Cardi ends up with an OnlyFans account or not seems unclear at the moment, but what is less up in the air is the fact that there should be more news from Cardi coming at some point today.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Joe Budden Jokes That Logic Is ‘Reverse Bullying’ Him Over His ‘Worst Rapper’ Comments

In all of the odd feuds that dot the hip-hop landscape, one of the oddest might be the one between Joe Budden and Logic. Aside from the fact it seems not to stem from any sort of personal animosity between the two rappers, it’s been marked more by passive-aggressive swipes on podcasts and radio shows than diss records or public fisticuffs.

The latest twist in their saga finds Joe Budden responding to Logic’s assertion that Budden’s loud proselytizing of Logic’s supposed wackness led to Logic’s depression. In a recent interview with Hot97, Logic said that despite never having met Budden, the podcaster’s opinions had a negative impact on the video game streamer’s mental health. “This dude doesn’t like me for whatever reason,” he said. “He wants to say I’m not Black enough, I’m not good enough. He’s a person who’s led to part of my depression and some of my darkest spaces.” Logic punctuated his lament with a direct address to Budden: “Your words, they make people want to kill themselves, bro. And that’s a real thing.”

Rather than responding directly, Budden — who previously apologized for raining on Logic’s retirement parade, but not for dissing Logic’s rap skills — went to Twitter with more sarcasm. “Logic is reverse bullying me,” he tweeted. He also spared a few retweets for fans who jumped in to rip him, giving an “lmao” to one who said Budden’s music was enough to make listeners suicidal.

Check out Joe Budden’s tweet and Logic’s interview above.

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A Top Netflix Executive Has Named His ‘Dream’ Oscar-Winning Director For A Film Project

In the past nine months alone, Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Noah Baumbach have all made original movies for Netflix. That’s an impressive collection of filmmakers, two of whom were nominated for Oscars, but because the public’s thirst for content can never be satiated (we demand it, the way secretaries do teeth), Netflix is setting its sights on some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Tendo Nagenda, the streaming service’s vice president of original films, was asked by the Hollywood Reporter about the “dream filmmaker” he wants to collaborate with. “I’ve love to get Jordan Peele to make a Netflix film. We love Chris Nolan, we love Quentin Tarantino,” he responded. “We have to concentrate our efforts on finding people of that talent level that we can work with as early as possible and then get them to make movies only for Netflix.” Theater purist Nolan might be the last director to make a Netflix movie – I’d settle for an animated TARS spin-off series — but you never know.

As for Nagenda’s “dream projects,” he responded, “We’re looking at big, broad-audience, PG-level adventure films as something that we want to get into. Something along the lines of the first Star Wars, or Harry Potter 1 and 2. A lot of family live action, fantasy, spectacle movies… A Jumanji-type of story.” You know what Jumanji had? Monkeys. And the name of Jordan Peele’s production company? Monkeypaw Productions. Netflix is planting the seeds… for something to do with monkeys, I guess?

Until then: The Kissing Booth 3!

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

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Disinformation campaigns are prevalent during crises. Here’s how you can protect yourself.

With the COVID-19 Pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests nationwide, and the countdown to the 2020 Presidential election, there has been a flurry of online activity.

We’re tweeting about these events, we’re sharing news articles about them on Facebook, and we’re uploading live videos as events happen during protests. These platforms are being used to communicate, to express outrage, to share what we’re witnessing on the streets, to debate ideas, and to campaign for candidates.

This isn’t new, of course. Social media has long been a way to get information out quickly.

“When the plane landed on the Hudson, that was one of the first events that was social media first,” says Kate Starbird, associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. “The news went out via social media first because it was faster. People could actually see what was going on long before people could write a story about it or put it on the news.”

Social media has also been lauded as a way for people to get information from a variety of perspectives — everybody can share what they see.

But, she adds, “the problem is that there is some inherent risk and vulnerabilities in getting things at that speed because speed can drive misinformation and mistakes.” It’s also incredibly difficult to know if all of these voices on social media are real. Some of those accounts might be deliberately trying to spread disinformation.

Disinformation spreads quickly during and after natural disasters, mass shootings, and other dangerous events.


Wade Austin Ellis on Unsplash

In fact, for more than a decade, Starbird has been researching how misinformation and disinformation spread online during these kinds of crises.

During a crisis, there’s a lot of uncertainty and fear, so we start theorizing — or rumoring — on what to do and that rumoring can create misinformation. Then, political actors can either create additional misinformation or amplify existing rumors to spread false information for political reasons. “When there’s fear and anxiety, we’re acutely vulnerable to politicization, misinformation, and disinformation,” she says.

For example, climate science denialists can use natural disasters — such as hurricanes or winter storms — to amplify false information that supports their cause.

Not all this disinformation comes from foreign actors.

“We tend to think about it as foreign and Russian,” Starbird says, “but that’s going to be a small part of what is going on right now. I think we need to be more aware that the tools and techniques of disinformation are democratized… the same kind of techniques are being used by domestic actors, activists, political operatives and foreign campaigns.”

Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, agrees. During Donald Trump’s campaign for president, she saw many white supremacists using these techniques to organize. But she also saw advertisers using similar techniques — such as fake communities, fake engagement, and fake reviews.

Your personal data can be used in disinformation campaigns too.

Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Everything you do online generates personal data. Cookies and other web trackers embedded in the sites you visit collect this data when you create social media profiles, buy things online, or simply browse the internet. Many of these cookies then use your data to personalize the ads you see.

“An advertiser can select ads to show you based on the profile they have built from your data,” explains Marshall Erwin, Senior Director of Trust and Security at Mozilla, but “these same sophisticated profiles and ad targeting tools allow politicians to slice and dice the electorate. Politicians might have a divisive message that they can target to certain demographics, such as one designed to radicalize white, middle aged men.”

This profile can also be used to target you and get you to believe and share disinformation.

If this happened “you’d be getting skewed information targeted towards you based on the customization of the information environment” says Donovan.

This can be especially powerful if you’re in a social media echo chamber, where many of your friends and loved one have similar beliefs so you won’t see anything contradicting. “If individuals are caught in a media echo chamber and they’re not seeking out a diverse set of sources, then they’re going to be prone to sharing disinformation, just by the virtue that they’re not lumping in the other information that is contradicting what it is that they are seeing,” says Donovan. And this helps that disinformation spread to your friends and family.

The algorithms on social networks, like Facebook, also use your data and click history to determine which friends you see updates from and which particular news stories shared by those friends you see. This means you’re more likely to see friends that think like you and news stories that align with your worldview, thereby creating an echo chamber.

Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Furthermore, your personal data online could also be used to create fake accounts that seem more legitimate. For example, Donovan says a friend of hers had his wedding photos stolen from Flickr and used as part of a meme campaign against Hillary Clinton.

So how can you protect yourself?

1. Slow down.

“As information participants, we’re not just information consumers anymore. We’re participants and when we’re online, we need to slow ourselves down,” says Starbird. Before you retweet, go to the account and look at previous tweets. “Make sure you really want to endorse something that the account is saying.”

2. If something you read online seems outrageous, double check that story with other trusted news sources.

“Stories meant to stoke rage and anger coupled with novelty — that is, you’re not seeing them elsewhere — are the recipes driving people to share false stories,” explains Donovan. “So you read a headline that’s “Famous actor says some racial slur,” don’t share it out of rage if no one else is saying it’s true.”

3. Know it’s hard sometimes to recognize fake accounts — they look real.

“As a researcher who studies this, sometimes we can spend hours — I mean 40 hours or even 100 hours — looking at specific accounts to figure out if this is a real person or if it is an impersonator or a troll from another country.”

It’s hard because the bad actors that create these accounts spend years “seasoning” them to fool you.

For example, Starbird knows of some accounts by Russian actors that started out simply tweeting real information during natural disasters in order to build their audience. Then, once they had the audience, they started sprinkling in fake information or calling real events fake.

Donovan knows of another account that started as a celebrity gossip profile before changing to political disinformation closer to the 2016 election.

4. When in doubt, dig a little deeper.

If you’re still not sure, Donovan says you can use the Wayback machine to see if the account has changed personas in the past.

You can also download the avatar or the banner image on the social media accounts and do a reverse image search to see if the picture shows up elsewhere or if it’s real.

If you still can’t tell if an account is real, don’t follow them.

Nghia Nguyen on Unsplash

5. If you make a mistake, correct it.

“If we do spread something wrong, don’t just delete it,” says Starbird. “Actually go back and let everyone know who might have reshared your post that it was actually wrong. If it’s Facebook, actually edit the post and say this is wrong. Let people know that we’ve made a mistake.”

“Journalists have these standards of fact-checking,” she continues. “Well, we’re all talking about being citizen journalists now, so now we have to take on some of that responsibility if we want to have the privilege.”

6. Use the ‘flag’ tool.

If you think you’ve found a fake account or you’re seeing dangerous, false information online, flag it.

This is safer than trying to dispel information on your own. “If it’s a serious disinformation campaign, groups of people who want to remain online will attack you in order to try to shut you down personally,” says Donovan.

7. Protect your personal data while you browse online.

If a disinformer is using advertising technology to target you, using a browser that has privacy controls to limit the amount of information collected about you might help. Mozilla, for example, protects users’ data by turning on privacy features by default in the Firefox browser and using the Enhanced Tracking Protection feature to prevent known parties from tracking your activity from the sites you visit, therefore limiting their ability to build a profile of you.

You can also use private browsing or incognito mode to clear cookies and your cache.

8. Remember that we all have an important role to play in stopping the spread of disinformation.

“We sometimes have this idea, just like with voting, that we’re too small,” says Starbird. “‘Nothing I do is going to make a big impact, and yet at scale, absolutely it does. Misinformation doesn’t spread itself. We spread it, as information participants.”

“There is a well-founded fear that pervasive disinformation is undermining our trust in information systems, our trust in our democratic election systems and our trust in each other,” she continues. “That can undermine democratic society because if we can’t come together with some kind of shared reality and an acceptance of others in our country as legitimate political actors, then we can’t come together to govern ourselves. In those conditions, democracy falls apart.”

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Dave Bautista Is Shutting Down Speculation That He’ll Be Hopping Between Marvel Movies And DC

As the cast of Matt Reeves’ dark-secret concealing The Batman stands by for the all-clear to resume reshoots, a Marvel Cinematic Universe actor is spreading word that he won’t be among them. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Dave Bautista, who stepped out of the wrestling ring and onto the big screen as Drax the Destroyer, won’t be bouncing over to DC as well to menace the cowl-clad Robert Pattinson. Rumors that he’d be joining the production as Bane weren’t exactly discouraged by Bautista, who tweeted a photo of himself outside a Warner Bros. building last December.

Yup, the “It won’t come to you so get after it!! #DreamChaser” caption was suggestive of a major comic-book role, to say the very least.

However, the role is not in the cards for Bautista who has now told a fan on Twitter that “unfortunately,” it wasn’t happening, but he “[t]ried my best.”

Of course, The Batman is shrouded in as much mystery as humanly possible, and we don’t even know at this stage whether the Bane character will appear in the movie at all. The film, which will co-star Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Colin Farrell as The Penguin, is scheduled to hit theaters on October 1, 2021.

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Ryan Breaux, Frank Ocean’s Brother, Has Reportedly Died At 18

Frank Ocean (real name Christopher Breaux) seems to have suffered a major personal loss this weekend: It is reported that the singer’s younger brother, Ryan Breaux, passed away at 18 years old as the result of a car crash.

KABC and CBSLA report that Breaux — along with Ezekial Bishop, a friend and fellow recent graduate of Oak Christian High School — died in a single-vehicle collision early Sunday morning (August 2) in Thousand Oaks, California. As a result of the crash, the car was cut in half upon impact with a tree and burst into flames. Law enforcement responded to a call of smoke in the area at about 1:30 a.m. near Skelton Canyon Circle. The occupants of the vehicle were pronounced dead on the scene. The Ventura County Medical Examiner has not officially confirmed the identity of either victim, but friends gathered near the scene for a memorial named Breaux and Bishop as the victims.

Ocean fans are familiar with Breaux, or at the very least, they’ve heard his voice before: An interview conducted by Breaux appears on Ocean’s Blond track “Futura Free.” Ocean has yet to publicly address Breaux’s reported death.

Friends of Breaux have shared condolences online, including Pierce Brosnan’s son Paris Brosnan, who posted photos of them together, a screenshot of a text conversation between them, and wrote, “Thank you for being there for me when I needed you most, thank you for all the wild nights, thank you for your music and all the late night studio sessions with Fray, thank you for blessing us ALL with your presence on this earth. I will carry you in my heart always. Until I see you again brother.”

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50 Cent Says It’s ‘Time To Take A Break’ From Instagram After Being Reported For Bullying

50 Cent says it’s time for him to take a break from Instagram after being reported for bullying in a new post… on Instagram. 50 posted a screenshot of the “your post goest against our community guidelines” report to his page, joking that he didn’t quite understand why the post in question would need to be removed. “I don’t understand this,” he captioned the post. “Why am i getting this? It says the post is removed for bullying but the post is still on my page. OK, time to take a break from IG.”

It’s likely 50 could still see the post while it was removed from his public timeline because the questionable post has been scrubbed. Meanwhile, it appears his “break” only lasted a few hours as he’s posted several new photos and videos since, although they have all been promotional posts for his Branson cognac with two exceptions. Considering his usual online activities, some fans in the comments were shocked he hadn’t been reported for bullying a long time ago.

A well-known troll, 50 has directed mocking posts at everyone from his erstwhile rap rival Ja Rule to his own son, although in an unprecedented move, he did issue an apology for a post teasing Megan Thee Stallion about being shot, claiming he didn’t believe the news when it was first reported. Megan might be the only person to receive an apology; Nick Cannon, Will Smith, and others certainly aren’t holding their breath.

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All The Best New Music From This Week That You Need To Hear

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw bold new material from two major artists from different parts of the pop spectrum: Billie Eilish and Beyonce. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Billie Eilish — “My Future”

Instead of touring behind her wildly successful debut album, Billie Eilish and Finneas have been getting to work on new music. The first fruit of those efforts, “My Future,” surfaced last week, and impressively, it was recorded in just two days.

Beyonce — The Lion King: The Gift (Deluxe)

The big Beyonce story of last week was the Disney+ premiere of Black Is King, but alongside the movie, Queen Bey also dropped a deluxe edition of The Gift. Additionally, the new release spawned a fresh video for “Already.”

Travis Barker — “Forever” Feat. Run The Jewels

There’s no such thing as too much Run The Jewels, so thank goodness for Travis Barker. He recruited the hip-hop duo do join him on “Forever,” a new single on which the intensities of all three artists amp each other up.

Fontaines DC — A Hero’s Death

The band’s guitarist Carlos O’Connell told Uproxx of the group’s new album, “We just came to accept that we were feeling differently and the music we were to write shouldn’t in any way keep in mind what we’ve written before. We should just be allowed to write as honestly at the time of writing it. I look forward to playing these songs live and I don’t really know what the performance will be like. I’m excited to see what it feels like to be full of energy and feeling vulnerable at the same time.”

Lil Wayne — “Thug Life” Feat. Jay Jones and Gudda Gudda

After kicking off the year with Funeral, Lil Wayne is ready for new endeavors. His latest is “Thug Life,” a look at, well, life as a thug, that features Young Money rappers Jay Jones and Gudda Gudda.

Dominic Fike — What Could Possibly Go Wrong

After delaying his album due to incidents of police violence in the US, Fike has finally released What Could Possibly Go Wrong. The genre-crossing artist impresses on his debut album, which should be the first of many fascinating endeavors.

ASAP Ferg — “Move Ya Hips” Feat. Nicki Minaj and MadeInTYO

A month ago, Nicki told her fans to pester ASAP Ferg into sharing their then-unreleased collaboration “Move Ya Hips.” That tactic apparently worked, as now, the track is out. Between the two rappers trading bars, MadeInTYO also contributes a catchy chorus.

NLE Choppa — “Narrow Road” Feat. Lil Baby

Lil Baby has had a substantial 2020, and last week, he shared the wealth with NLE Choppa. He joined the rising rapper (whose major-label debut comes later this year) on “Narrow Road” and its driving beat, on which Choppa offers a more patient delivery than is typical.

Angel Olsen — “Whole New Mess”

Olsen’s 2019 release All Mirrors came a few years after its predecessor, but she’s not waiting as long for her next album. Whole New Mess is coming in 2020, and its title-track, a stylistic return to Olsen’s roots, has already come out and had its late-night TV debut.

Guapdad 4000 — “Choppa Talk” Feat. TyFontaine

Guapdad has been nonstop in 2020, pandemic be damned, and he continued his prolific streak last week with “Choppa Talk.” Recruiting newcomer TyFontaine, the pair take things in a less energetic direction than is characteristic of most of Guapdad’s work.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.