Month: November 2020

After delaying the project for a little under three months, Black Thought finally shared his Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Abel effort in the middle of October. The project arrived as a 13-track effort with guest appearances from Pusha T, Killer Mike, Swizz Beatz, Schoolboy Q, and more. Nearly a month after Black Thought shared the effort, the rapper brought “State Prisoner” to the popular performance series, A Colors Show.

Black Thought delivered his performance of “State Prisoner” with a vibrant blue backdrop that laid behind him. Standing tall with the mic in front of him, the Philly-based rapper dropped off the piercing lyrics over the raucous production and effortlessly weaved his rhyme schemes and metaphors together for the A Colors Show set.

The performance on the popular online series came a couple of weeks after he stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to play a pair of tracks from the Streams of Thought, Vol. 3. Getting help from The Last Artful, Dodgr, and Portugal. The Man, Black Thought gave a powerful medley of his “Quiet Trip” and “Nature Of The Beast” tracks. He also delivered a cozy NPR Tiny Desk performance from the comfort of his home office earlier this year.

On a more recent note, Black Thought joined Common for his “Say Peace” single, one that the Chicago native used to announce his A Beautiful Revolution Pt 1 album.

You can watch his performance in the video above.

A decade ago the #FreeBritney movement was born, with fans hoping to see the beleaguered pop singer freed from the clutches of her domineering father, Jamie Spears. Over the summer a second wave was born, with people worried after seeing the numerous videos Britney has shared, including one in which she explained why she burned down her home gym. Since then, Britney has tried to assure concerned parties that she was fine and happy. Soon thereafter court documents revealed that she asked a court to end her father’s role as the sole conservator. Now, she has officially filed to do just that.

According to a report from Billboard, a motion that was filed on November 3 by Spears’ court-appointed lawyer Samuel Ingham said that if Jamie is allowed to continue his conservator position, it would cause “Britney to suffer loss and injury.” Ingham requested that the court remove James as soon as her new conservator, Bessemer Trust, is appointed.

The motion was filed after Britney’s longtime business manager, Lou Taylor of Tri-Star Sports and Entertainment Group, resigned without any notice. Rather than inform Britney of Taylor’s resignation, Jamie hired Michael Kane of the accounting firm Miller Kaplan to serve as her new business manager. Once Britney and her lawyer were made aware of the new hire, Ingham informed a judge that they no longer wanted her father to be a co-conservator to her estate.

Britney was also unhappy that her father’s legal team asked in a letter that her estate account remain at City National Bank until Bessemer took over. Ingham called the letter a “blatant attempt by James to try to retain full functional control of her assets, books and records in the face of Britney’s objections, TriStar’s resignation and the appointment of Bessemer Trust.”

(via Billboard

The 2020 presidential election has been one for the history books — a long and winding road that hasn’t even reached a final destination yet. It’s certainly the first presidential election in which one candidate took it upon themselves to declare victory in states they haven’t won, in the same manner with which Michael Scott once declared bankruptcy. Even with Joe Biden the likely champion, it’s looking likely that Trump won’t go quietly — and nor will his legions of hopped-up supporters.

On Wednesday, with absentee ballots being belatedly counted — and revealing a massive surge of support for Barack Obama’s former vice president — one of them interrupted a press conference held in Nebraska, one of a handful of states that have yet to count all their votes, was interrupted. He did it in style, too, wearing a t-shirt bearing the words “BBQ BEER FREEDOM.” His attire amusingly clashed with his fiery — and baseless — message. And luckily it was caught on video and shared on social media.

The video finds the unidentified man crashing the podium during the relatively staid presser to repeatedly shout his conspiracy theories. “The Biden crime family is stealing the election! The media’s covering it up,” he screamed. “We want our freedom for the world!”

Perhaps this gentleman wanted his message amplified. It was — but not in the way he may have wished. The clip spread like wildfire across social media, where exhausted Biden voters, happy to have something amusing to relieve the tension of the last year (or years), seized upon it with glee.

Some praised the other star of the video.

Here’s another angle, if you’d like.

Some saw him as a reminder of what we may one day lose, perhaps soon.

On the other hand, maybe not.

For what it’s worth, the person the “BBQ BEER FREEDOM” shirt guy interrupted, according to The Hill, Registrar of Voters official Joe Gloria, who at the time was busy telling people that he was not prepared to say how many ballots had yet to be counted. Nebraska is one of five states who, as of this writing, are still in contention, the others being Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Biden is currently ahead by about 93,000 votes, with 86% of the vote counted. Whatever the end result, this Trump guy probably isn’t going away quietly.

(Via The Hill)

College football sees its final conferences return to the field this week, as the Pac-12 and MAC both start their seasons, but as they begin there are ample cautionary tales around the sport for the need for vigilance and concern still about the COVID-19 pandemic that saw the United States cross 100,000 daily cases for the first time this week.

Among the biggest schools that won’t be playing this week is Wisconsin, canceling its second straight game due to an outbreak of 27 cases within the program, and a further reminder of the issues that will be present ahead of the Pac-12’s first game of the season. Arizona and USC are set to play on the “Big Noon Saturday” game on Fox, but the Fox “Big Noon Kickoff” show has also been significantly impacted by COVID-19. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, and host Rob Stone are all quarantining due to virus protocol this week.

Fox did not tell the Post whether any of them had tested positive, but simply noted it was “out of an abundance of caution” that the crew wouldn’t be on set this week. As for the plans for Saturday’s broadcast, Marchand reports Fox will turn to its two most prominent NFL personalities.

In their place, Fox Sports will have Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Emmanuel Acho, with host Charissa Thompson. Bradshaw, Long and Thompson work on Fox’s NFL Sunday studio coverage, while the up-and-coming Acho is on the daily FS1 program, “Speak for Yourself.” This Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” will be condensed from two hours to one.

Hopefully, everyone on the “Big Noon Kickoff” crew will be able to remain healthy and none will have serious symptoms if they tested positive — or will be able to stay negative, if not.

As of this writing, there is no clear winner of the 2020 presidential election. And though it looks like Joe Biden’s lead may hold, his opponent, incumbent Donald J. Trump, seems to think otherwise. Late on Wednesday afternoon, he took to Twitter, boldly and baselessly claiming claiming wins in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina — none of which have been officially called as his. (And in the case of Michigan, it’s been called for Biden.) The bizarre boast prompted John Legend to encourage everyone on Twitter to join him in mocking the oft-ridiculed president.

“Let’s all claim things we don’t have any right to. What y’all got,” Legend wrote on Twitter. He told people that to participate they must “say ‘hereby’ to make it legally binding.” People were quick to join in the fun.

One wrote, “I hereby claim Trump Tower will be renamed Obama Tower, and made into low income housing (keeping all existing amenities) with priority given to single parent families.” Another tried to save a cancelled show: “I hereby declare a new season of The OA shall start filming henceforth,” they said. “@netflix I proclaimth thee my property and ye shall maketh it so. With haste.” A third chose a more comical response: “Well if he’s claiming the State of Michigan, I hereby claim Trump Tower NYC. It’s a homeless shelter now.”

It’s been 22 years since Michael J. Fox revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the cognitive disorder that mainly affects one’s motor skills. He’s been very frank about his struggles, and in a new interview with People (some of which isn’t yet online), he says it’s now affecting his memorization skills, which is to say one of the requirements of being an actor — and something at which Fox particularly felt he excelled.

“My short-term memory is shot,” Fox told People, by way of Entertainment Weekly. “I always had a real proficiency for lines and memorization. And I had some extreme situations where the last couple of jobs I did were actually really word-heavy parts. I struggled during both of them.”

At this point, the star of Back to the Future and Spin City isn’t sure how long he can even act, though he’s far from retired. His most recent credits are on two episodes of The Good Fight from this year, and he had a key role in the Spike Lee-produced time travel movie See You Yesterday last year. But right now he’s considering other avenues — including writing. In fact, his fourth memoir, No Time Like the Future, arrives on November 17.

“I’m down to this,” he says of writing becoming his primary creative outlet. “My guitar playing is no good. My sketching is no good anymore, my dancing never was good, and acting is getting tougher to do. So it’s down to writing. Luckily, I really enjoy it.”

In the profile, Fox also talks about trying to stay positive:

“Optimism is sustainable when you keep coming back to gratitude, and what follows from that is acceptance … Accepting that this thing has happened, and you accept it for what it is. It doesn’t mean that you can’t endeavor to change. It doesn’t mean you have to accept it as a punishment or a penance, but just put it in its proper place. Then see how much the rest of your life you have to thrive in, and then you can move on.”

And though the numerous rough patches he’s hit recently — and over his two decades-plus battle with the disease — it has taught him to find perspective. “So the last couple couple of years have been trickier than most,” Fox told People. “But I have things that I’ve been blessed with that are just incredible. Life is rich. Life is good.”

(Via EW and People)

The 2020 election has left voters nervously awaiting the official results, with a record number of mail-in ballots causing a delay in announcing a winner. As of this post, Joe Biden currently leads Donald Trump, according to AP. While many are eager for it to come to an end, some voters, including Rihanna, are remaining patient, asking for every vote to be counted, no matter how long it takes.

Rihanna took to Instagram, writing the words “count every vote we’ll wait” over six separate posts, the last featuring a period. It’s an important message for those who are losing patience with one of history’s most tense presidential elections.

Despite a busy schedule that involves working on her fashion and makeup line, as well as her upcoming ninth album, the “Work” singer has often used her platform to take a political stance. In June, she joined Billie Eilish, Lizzo, and more to sign an open letter to Congress that voiced support for the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. The following month, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, and more asked New York Attorney General William Barr to “reopen the case and probe the wrongful death of Danroy ‘D.J.’ Henry.”

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

You’ve probably been too busy biting your nails over the results of the presidential election to notice that last night was a pretty decisive win on the road toward nationwide weed legalization. Every state measure regarding weed on this year’s ballot passed — further proof that America, by and large, is finally ready to admit it’s down with smoking weed.

Vox reports that four states, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voted to legalize recreational marijuana, bringing the total number of weed legal states in the U.S. to 15 plus Washington D.C, and voters in Mississippi and South Dakota voted overwhelmingly to legalize medical marijuana, bringing the total number of states that have legalized medicinal marijuana to 35.

Last night wasn’t just a huge win for weed though. The night also served as a rejection of the decades-long war on drugs, as Washington D.C. voted to decriminalize psychedelic plants and Oregon became the first state in modern history to decriminalize all drugs — including cocaine and heroin.

According to statistics gathered by the Center for American Progress, one-fifth of the entire population of incarcerated individuals — which are disproportionately Black Americans — are serving time for a drug charge with 1.15 million people on probation or parole for drug related-offenses, with the overall number of Americans arrested for possession tripling since 1980, resulting in 1.3 million arrests per year in 2015. So this is a huge win on the side of drugs and a repudiation of Nixon’s costly and discriminatory war on drugs.

It’s been a stressful couple days/weeks/months/years, and as everyone awaits the final official tally from the 2020 presidential election — and however many weird fits incumbent Donald J. Trump chooses to throw in response — it’s healthy to get briefly distracted by jokes. So here’s a good one: at some point on Wednesday, before Michigan had been formally called for Biden, CNN threw up a picture of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the source of a good chunk of the nation’s as-yet-uncounted absentee ballots. But the picture definitely wasn’t Philly.

Instead of using, say, an image of Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell or the Pat’s and Geno’s area or the Rocky statue perched below the Philadelphia Museum of Art, CNN went with what appears to be the Catalina Islands. It looks suspiciously like one of those screen savers or laptop wallpapers that show a generic coastal paradise; in fact, one person speculated that’s what it is — a mistake that wound up on-air.

But it definitely had screensaver energy.

People were quick to call out the gaffe.

Some made Rocky jokes.

Others made more specific Philadelphia jokes.

Anyway, Philadelphia has had it rough the last week and change, from the police killing of Walter Wallace, the protests and subsequent police violence that resulted, and, now, becoming the center of election vote counts. We hope this weird blip lightens things up a bit.

Election Night 2020 was a tense affair, if nowhere near as bleak-o-rama as the one in 2016, when reality star and fitfully successful businessman Donald J. Trump claimed a surprise presidential win. While far from a blow-out for either party, it found the incumbent commander-in-chief seeming to take more states than his many detractors would have liked. But then came the mail-in ballots, submitted in record numbers, largely by Democratic voters, who have taken the pandemic more seriously than their Republican brethren. By Wednesday, Trump’s grip was loosening, and hotly contested states like Michigan and Wisconsin were sliding into rival Joe Biden’s hands.

Did Trump take kindly to the counting of legally submitted votes? He did not. He filled his Twitter feed with fraudulent conspiracy theories, many of them flagged and censored by the social media service. He sicced lawyers on numerous Boards of Elections, attempting to stop people from counting ballots that likely weren’t for him. As the afternoon drew to a close, he got really desperate: he simply declared victory over states in which he hadn’t officially won.

“We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers),” he tweeted, “the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,…..” The first tweet ended there, on a cliffhanger, whose resolution was hard to read because it was censored for spreading lies. (For the record, he claimed, without proof, that there was “a large number of secretly dumped ballots,” which had “been widely reported.” It hadn’t been.)

Perhaps you’re asking a president can simply claim victory in states he hasn’t won. The answer is no. (Moreover, the first tweet, while not hidden, was adorned with a warning, pointing out that “Official sources may not have called the race when it was Tweeted” — which isn’t true either, because official sources have called Michigan for Biden.) In fact the moment had strong Michael Scott “I declare bankruptcy!” energy — another doofus who’s questionably amassed power, proving how little he knows about how what he controls works.

At least his citizenry — who, if numbers hold, may not be his to lord over in a few months — were quick to point out his mistaken impression.

Some followed suit, claiming other places, however fictitious, over Twitter.

Others claimed other ludicrous things.

Or made bold proclamations.

And some just mocked a man who may, at long last, be down.

And some reminded us about one of his first stops after relinquishing the presidency.