Month: October 2020

Throw away your couch and buy that $300 racecar seat on wheels because UPROXX Recon is finally out of beta. It’s a brand new show that is here to break down all the latest video game news and culture so you can stop begging your friends to tell you what’s cool.

The show is hosted by prominent Twitch streamer and TikTok heavyweight, SushiBAE. His sidekick? UPROXX Edge Gaming writer and Season 14 Rocket League Grand Champion AJ Lodge… aka me. Our hope is that the show allows you to find a real love for video game culture, hands-on insight, and perhaps the joys of watching a real friendship blossom. Everyone say “aw.” But for real, there’s so much fun to be had that it’s worth a borderless full-screen.

In this first episode, we talk everything: from the smash-hit indie Among Us, the latest developments from the front-lines of the console wars, and what we’re excited to see from upcoming AAA titles. And because we’re both super smart and read the newspaper, we make sure you get all the big details so you can stay in the know without having to comb through a dozen different listicles just to find out that you can pet the dog. That and, you know, our opinions: which are always serious but don’t always need to be taken seriously.

Basically, we’re here to talk about what makes games fun for everyone, whether that’s skill-based matchmaking or determined by your ability to play as Travis Scott. UPROXX Recon is about whatever gets you excited about video games, memes and all. And it’s in the video above. So watch it.

Since the Orlando Bubble came to a close, all of the league’s attention has shifted toward the complicated question of when — not to mention how — the next season might start. With the league, the owners, and the players’ union all seemingly on a different wavelength, the timeline remains murkier than ever.

After a recent board of governors’ meeting, news emerged that the league wants to start the 2020-2021 season as early as Dec. 22 to preserve the Christmas Day slate, which is a major revenue stream, and avoid any conflicts on the other end of the schedule regarding the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Unsurprisingly, the players’ union initially balked at that idea, with NBPA director Michele Roberts saying that it “defies common sense” that the NBA would be able to get up and running again on such an accelerated time line, given the many logistical and safety issues involved.

Now, the league is pushing back, according the New York Times‘ Marc Stein, saying that a late January start date could likely mean only a 50-game regular season.

Stein goes on to clarify that the 50-game season would have significant financial implications for the players. The 72-game schedule beginning in Dec. would mean would play roughly every other day and would put the NBA Finals somewhere in mid-July, thus avoiding any potential conflicts with the Olympics.

The league and the union are facing a deadline on Friday for those talks, although they are expected to once again be extended into next week.

Rexx Life Raj has been cooking up the follow-up to his fan-favorite EP California Poppy for some time and today, he shared the release date for California Poppy 2, November 20, along with the video for the sunny single, “State Of Mind.” The Berkeley rapper takes a break in the mellow video, occupying a cabin in the woods to burn incense, sage, and other herbs as he rhymes about his lifestyle changes over the past few years. He advocates pursuing inner peace over money, telling listeners “being broke is just a state of mind.”

2020’s been a productive year for the Bay Area indie, as he released a string of singles to carry his fans through the gap between his full-length projects. Early this year, he shared the motivational “Stimulus Check” video, following that with the celebratory “Tesla In A Pandemic.” In between, he crafted a pair of collabs that contributed to his quarantine fund and gave back: “Bounce Back” with G-Eazy brought in the ESPN bag, while “Optimistic” with D Smoke contributed to Empire’s Voices For Change Vol. 1 compilation. With California Poppy 2 on the way, Rexx and his fans have plenty to be optimistic about.

Watch the “State Of Mind” video above.

California Poppy 2 is out 11/20 via Empire. Order it here.

McDonald’s is pulling out all the stops this year. Hot off the launch of the Travis Scott and J Balvin burgers, the ‘ol Golden Arches is giving us an early Christmas present to cap off what has been, by all accounts, an awful year. They’re bringing back the McRib nationwide!

Does this fast-food launch solve all — or any — of our problems? No. Absolutely not. But it’s the McRib, baby! The Simpsons made a whole episode about it. Just accept it for the simple pleasure that it is.

A holiday season staple from McDonald’s, the McRib pork sandwich hasn’t been available nationwide since 2012. Last year’s drop came close — when it was brought to 10,000 of McDonald’s 14,000 U.S. restaurants. But that still left a lot of the market craving their fix and scrambling to find a restaurant that did have the menu item. To help people locate the cult hit, McDonald’s had to launch a McRib locator app.

If you’re having a hard time believing that the love for this ribless, artificially rib-shaped sandwich goes that deep, just check out some of the Twitter reactions at the news below. The McRib will return to menus nationwide on December 2nd.

Dave Chappelle’s relationship with Netflix has already brought forth a number of standup specials from the comedian, including a powerful surprise performance earlier this year. But now the streaming service is adding the sketch comedy show the comedian is best known for to its comedy offerings.

Netflix released the news that Chappelle’s Show is getting added to its library on November 1 official Friday morning, using its comedy social media pages to drop a montage of famous moments from the show’s run on Comedy Central.

It’s a fine jolt of nostalgia on a Friday morning, but it also speaks to just how well the show holds up. First airing on Comedy Central in 2003, it lasted three-ish seasons and just 28 episodes. But it also created some of the most lasting comedy moments of this millennium, with segments like Prince’s infamous basketball game with Charlie Murphy still getting attention nearly two decades later.

Putting more of Chappelle’s comedy offerings in one place is great news for fans, though over the years, they had plenty of opportunities to see Chappelle’s Show reruns airing on Comedy Central at all hours of the night. But this age is one of convenience, and come Saturday binging episodes of the program has officially never been easier.

While his most notable moment of his year might have been his chart-topping High Off Life album, Future’s best work in 2020 has undoubtedly come through his guest features. The Atlanta rapper has given thrilling verse to the likes of Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Pop Smoke, and more, giving himself a more than fair chance at a possible guest feature of the year title. Supplying yet another one for the masses, he returns alongside a recent frequent collaborator in Doe Boy for their latest effort Tweakin.

The track is just the second single from Doe Boy’s upcoming Demons R Us project. The release will be his second full-length record of the year after he and DJ Esco’s 56 Birdz project from earlier this year. Shifting the focus back to Future, there are rumors that continue to swirl that he and Lil Uzi Vert will come through with a joint project at some point in teh near future. Fans believed that the duo would deliver on the joint effort earlier this year, but the two rappers opted to release two singles, “Over Your Head” and “Patek,” instead.

You can listen to “Tweakin” in the video above.

Demons R Us is out 11/06 via Freebandz. Pre-order it here.

Nigerian superstar Burna Boy has been having a breakout 2020 following the release of his new project Twice As Tall. Releasing videos for “Monsters You Made” with Chris Martin and “Real Life” with Stormzy, Burna continued his fiery ascent after becoming a hot commodity in the wake of 2019’s African Giant album. Now, he releases the loose single “20:10:10” to condemn the Nigerian government’s actions which came under scrutiny this month with the #EndSARS protests against the paramilitary police force and its overreaching, violent activities.

“You carry army go kill many youth for Lekki,” he rhymes, pointing out the Special Anti-Robbery Squad’s tendency to stop and attack Nigerian youth for any reason. Since early October, Nigerian citizens have been protesting for an end to the SARS organization, with the government responding by planning to reassign officers rather than disbanding the unit. Citizens have shared videos of officers kidnapping, torturing, robbing, and even killing mostly young men, profiling them over their clothing and hairstyles.

Burna Boy joined a wave of fellow Nigerian artists who have spoken out against the violence, including Davido and Wizkid. Both artists delayed releases planned for this month as a result of the unrest and have spoken out as well.

Listen to “20:10:20” above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Did Tucker Carlson finally give up on this Hunter Biden “scandal” that the far-right conspiratorial bunch wants to make happen? Maybe all of the “package” jokes are wearing Tucker down, or perhaps the wind has been fully taken out of his sails after the UPS found the mysterious missing package that has consumed the Fox News host’s week. Carlson believed that he was helping to reveal “October surprise” involving an unverified conspiracy about emails from a laptop that allegedly belongs to Hunter Biden (who has been the subject of wild Rudy Guiliani rantings). Yet the package somehow evaporated, and Carlson suggested on-air that he was being spied upon, so the deep state must have intercepted some alleged smoking gun.

Yet then UPS revealed that the package had surfaced, and Tucker still didn’t talk about what was in the package and how it would allegedly prove some far-right conspiracy about China and security issues and maybe the Ukraine. However, Tucker followed up on the issue by deciding not to follow up on it. What’s going on? It appears that Tucker has realized that Hunter Biden is not running for president. Further, he has decided that it’s time to leave Hunter Biden alone:

“Hunter Biden is a fallen man at this point. I knew Hunter Biden fairly well. We lived near each other in Washington,” Tucker began. “I never thought Hunter Biden was a bad person. I thought he had demons but in the time I knew him he kept them mostly under control. At some point, he lost control of those demons and the world knows that now. He’s now humiliated and alone. Probably too strong to say we feel sorry for Hunter Biden, but the point is pounding on a man, jumping on, and piling on when he’s already down is something we don’t want to be involved in.”

Huh. That wasn’t all, though. During this episode, Tucker attempted (again) to clarify that these “confidential documents” were a huge deal, and he is very suspicious and still has questions about the package went missing. And since everyone had been wondering why on earth these documents weren’t simply emailed, and why they weren’t backed up, Tucker added that there was a flash drive, and the documents were backed up.

Well, does it matter anymore? The Hunter Biden stuff didn’t seem to concern voters because, again, he is not running for president. And Carlson is waving the white flag, perhaps because he’s gained humanity, or maybe he’s simply realized how silly this all looks. Watch the full Hunter-focused segment from Thursday night below.

(Via Fox News & The Daily Beast)

Dua Lipa has done a lot with her Future Nostalgia material, whether that be releasing remixes or an entire remix album with The Blessed Madonna. Now, though, she’s back with a new song, “Fever,” which features Belgium singer Angèle, who sings in French.

Lipa sings on the hook of the infectious and thumping pop tune, “I’ve got a fever, so can you check? / Hand on my forehead, kiss my neck / And when you touch me, baby, I turn red / I’ve got a fever, so can you check?” Angèle takes over the second verse with lyrics that translate to, “Maybe with time, it will go away / And yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, I don’t see myself there / Like a medicine, I am nothing without you / And I know that I know that I’m wasting my time in yours arms.”

The song serves as Angèle’s introduction to English-speaking listeners, although she’s an established star in French-language music. She made her breakthrough in 2018 with the single “Tout Oublier,” and since then, she has racked up hundreds of millions of plays on Spotify.

Meanwhile, Lipa also recently announced that she will be performing a “Studio 2054” livestream show on November 27, tickets for which are on sale now.

Listen to “Fever” above.

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

Over the past few years, the City Edition jerseys across the NBA have offered us some truly special alternate uniforms. The idea was to pay tribute to some specific aspect of the local community, and teams have gotten more and more creative and colorful with their ideas of late.

Some have also gotten a little more socially conscious about it. Take the Portland Trail Blazers, for instance. This week, the organization debuted their stunning new alternate jerseys that they’ll be wearing periodically next season, with a unique focus on both the majestic landscape of the state and its Native American legacy.

The team posted their first images of the new uniforms to Twitter on Thursday.

According to the team’s website, each stripe on the color scheme holds symbolic meaning for various state destinations, such as the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm outside of the city limits that hosts one of the most spectacular tulip festivals in the country; Crater Lake, the deepest alpine lake in the United States; Cannon Beach, a popular Oregon Coast destination; and the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

The franchise is also using this opportunity to not only pay homage to its Native American heritage, but to give back in a meaningful way. Here’s more from the team’s site:

Honoring the tribal nations throughout was is now considered Oregon who have called this land their home from the beginning. Biofreeze and the Trail Blazers have teamed up to donate a portion of the net proceeds from the jersey sales to the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), a Portland-area nonprofit working to enhance the diverse strengths of Native youth and families through cultural identity and education.

The uniforms will go on sale Dec. 3 and are available through the team’s site.