Month: January 2021

Panic At The Disco leader Brendon Urie has mostly kept his head down over the past year or so. He didn’t release any new material under his own name in 2020 and neither did his band (although Panic At The Disco has actually been an Urie solo project since 2015). The last time he popped up in the mainstream music conversation was in 2019, when he featured on Taylor Swift’s Lover single “Me!.” He hasn’t done anything in 2021 so far either, and yet, he is trending on Twitter today; For some reason, he is being blamed for basically all of the world’s problems.

This faux-hate has been simmering on Twitter over the past couple days, and the list of global issues that were supposedly caused by him include the death of Adobe Flash, One Direction breaking up, the rise of Logan Paul, and the fall of the Roman Empire.

https://twitter.com/bussysandwhich/status/1346659382507892738

https://twitter.com/rhythmool/status/1346674277341421569

Urie has yet to respond to the many allegations made against him. In fact, he hasn’t posted on social media from his personal accounts in about half a year, so he clearly saw this day coming and has been preemptively laying low.

Check out some other tweets below to learn about the myriad of ways Urie has negatively impacted global history.

History was made on Tuesday evening as projections showed that Rev. Raphael Warnock topped Kelly Loeffler to earn a seat in the United States Senate. Warnock, a Democrat, is projected to become the first Black Senator in the history of the state of Georgia, and while the results are expected to become official sometime on Wednesday, Loeffler, a Republican, is on her way out.

It is a legitimately shocking development, even beyond the history made by Warnock, as he faced a gigantic uphill battle earlier this year in the state’s “jungle primary,” which featured a number of individuals competing for the seat. But one moment in particular appeared to put the wind in his sails: WNBA players wearing “VOTE WARNOCK” shirts during their Bubble in Florida.

The demonstration came because Loeffler, who co-owns the Atlanta Dream, made inaccurate and disparaging remarks against the Black Lives Matter movement, and a number of players — including many on the Dream — wanted to speak out. The shirts begat Warnock getting a rocket strapped to his back, flying up the polls, and ultimately, becoming a Senator-elect.

Now that Loeffler is out of a job, though, LeBron James wants to make sure she cannot return to the Dream. James tweeted that he would like to put together an ownership group to buy the franchise, and made sure to include a picture of players wearing those “VOTE WARNOCK” shirts.

James’ tweet quickly received an endorsement from Dream guard Renee Montgomery.

Montgomery was one of several members of the Dream who narrated a video for James’ More Than A Vote initiative encouraging voters in Georgia to head to the polls this week. Loeffler was not explicitly named in the video.

Himanshu Suri, better known by his rap name Heems, has been a solo artist and a member of both rap groups Das Racist, who broke up in 2012, and Swet Shop Boys, who released their most recent EP, Sufi La in 2017. Though Heems hasn’t released a solo album since the excellent 2015 Eat Pray Thug, the Queens rapper was inspired to share a new song as a tribute to the late rapper MF Doom, who is being mourned by the hip-hop community on all sides.

News of the iconic rapper’s passing at age 49 broke on New Year’s Eve, though in a post on social media his wife, Jasmine, noted that Doom had “transitioned” back in October of 2020. In a short post on Instagram, Heems shared his own rap written to honor the fallen legend, captioning the post “wrote a rap for MF DOOM, RIP” while zooming in on a photo of Doom as he raps.

In paying tribute Heems joins plenty of peers like Yasiin Bey, who reposted a 2014 cover of the Madvillain song “All Caps,” and Open Mike Eagle, who also wrote an original song to express his sadness at the death of a friend and peer. Hear Heem’s tribute above.

The balance of power in the United States Senate was up for grabs on Tuesday in Georgia. A pair of Republican incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, faced challenges from a Democrat duo, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, for the state’s two Senate seats, and if both Democrats won, then the party would control the executive and legislative branches of the government for the next two years.

The stakes could not be much higher for both parties, one looking to enact its policy agenda under President-elect Joe Biden, the other looking to hold one onto a level of power to prevent that from happening. But in the midst of all of that, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer made it a point to share a message near and dear to his heart: Go Bills.

Blitzer was born in Germany, but as a child, his family emigrated to the United States and settled down in Buffalo, where he grew up and eventually attended college. He’s a well-documented Bills fan, to the point that he owns a mask that prominently features the team’s logo.

The Bills, of course, are in the midst of a potentially special season. The team won the AFC East and secured the 2-seed in the conference, going 13-3 and looking like a major Super Bowl threat due to the second highest-scoring offense in the league. It has led to the team’s fans — who are well-documented for being some of the most passionate in all of football — being extra vocal about how much they love the Bills, whether they are your regular, everyday person in western New York or an anchor on CNN.

On Tuesday, the music world was shocked by the news that Dr. Dre suffered a brain aneurysm. According to TMZ, who broke the news, the hip-hip mogul came down with the malady on Monday and was quickly rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he currently remains. The report revealed Dre was in stable condition in the ICU, but that doctors have not yet discovered a cause for the bleeding. Hours after his health scare was made public, the West Coast native hopped on Instagram to thank family, friends, and fans for their support and assure them that he would be out of the hospital soon.

“Thanks to my family, friends and fans for their interest and well wishes. I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team,” he said in an Instagram post. “I will be out of the hospital and back home soon. Shout out to all the great medical professionals at Cedars. One Love!!” An attorney for The Chronic rapper also told Billboard that he is “resting comfortably.”

News of the aneurysm came on the same day that super-producer and Dre’s longtime friend Jimmy Iovine revealed that the two have plans to build a high school in South Central Los Angeles. The school would be a bridge to the USC Jimmy Iovine And Andre Young Academy, an undergraduate program they established in 2013.

All eyes are on Georgia tonight as the runoff election in the state senate there will essentially decide American policy for the next few years. Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock face off against Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. But with all this time on their hands waiting for the votes to be counted, internet sleuths did what they can always be counted on to do — dig up old tweets.

While in plenty of cases this can lead to disturbing or upsetting tweets, the message the music internet has has fixated on tonight is a 2012 reply to Pitchfork, a popular music reviews site, expressing his enthusiasm for what he hoped would be a forthcoming review of Imagine Dragons. “@pitchforkmedia Looking forward to your writeup of the new @imaginedragons album,” Ossoff tweeted, so long ago that the company’s handle has since changed to just @pitchfork.

However, Pitchfork is known more for its interest in independent rock, and the stadium-sized anthems of Imagine Dragons have been rejected by the publication for quite some time. In fact, Ossoff actually had to wait six years for them to even acknowledge Imagine Dragons. And even then, the review wasn’t a favorable one.

So why is Jon so supportive of the Vegas-based rock band? Well according to writer Josie Duffy Rice, president of The Appeal, a publication that covers “policy, politics, and the legal system,” Ossoff and the band’s drummer Daniel Platzman went to high school together.

It’s always a little jarring when politicians cross into the pop culture world — like Secretary of State Antony Blinken having a Steely Dan-inspired band — but in this case, people are finding it funnier because of widespread critical disdain for Imagine Dragons. However, not everyone feels that way about the band, and it’s pretty endearing on some level to see the Senate hopeful was sticking up for his high school friend all those years ago.

In the meantime, let’s all keep hoping Ossoff pulls a win off an unprecedented win tonight.

Eric Trump has nothing on his older brother. He doesn’t get shouty at rallies or conventions. He doesn’t go on TV with curiously red eyes and blabber incoherently or record himself making sloppy motel rants. Alex Moffat’s portrayal of Eric on SNL as basically as a kind of sweet-natured idiot. So when he went on Hannity and tried to openly blackmail Republican lawmakers into helping them overturn the election his father lost, it, well, wasn’t that threatening.

It was the night before both chambers of Congress meet to count each state’s already certified Electoral College votes. A number of senators and House members have vowed to push back. It won’t work. Some people, including the outgoing president, think Mike Pence can stop it. He can’t. So Eric tried Plan Z: He threatened people.

“I can tell you, Sean, any senator or any congressmen — meaning on this side — that does not fight tomorrow, I’m telling you, their political career is over, because the MAGA movement is going nowhere,” Eric bellowed. “My father’s created the greatest political movement in American history, and I’m telling you, they will get primaried the next time around, and they will lose.”

Eric also repeated those threats over Twitter.

Honestly, “you will get primaried” isn’t too scary, even if you’re a weak-willed Republican politician who could spend the next couple years getting death threats on Parler. In fact, very few found Eric Trump — again, the other Trump son — exactly goonish.

Some, though, called Eric’s statement out for what it was: blackmail.

Some pointed out that his older brother is no one to aspire to.

And others reminded everyone about that time Eric scammed people donating to a cancer charity.

Back in October, Bruce Springsteen reunited with his beloved E Street Band for the album Letter To You. It was the first project the rock singer made with the band since 2014’s High Hopes, and their reunion proved to be successful, debuting at No. 2 on the albums chart, making Springsteen the first act with a top-five album in each of the last six decades. But The Boss is already teasing some more material.

“I have some projects coming up this year that I won’t tell because it’s going to be a secret then a big surprise,” Springsteen said during a phone call he made to his SiriusXM channel, E Street Radio, on New Year’s Eve. “I do have things to keep me busy this year that will give the fans something to bide their time with.”

On top of that, Springsteen also talked about when he expects to hit the road again on a tour. “If things go according to what Dr. Fauci is projecting, as soon as we can we’ll be out there and that might be somewhere in the New Year of 2022,” he said. “I’m completely projecting because no one really knows but that’s what I think, according to all the information that’s available at this moment.”

You can listen to Springsteen to talk about his 2021 plans and touring in the video above.

Even with the Denver Nuggets struggling to a 2-4 record to begin the 2020-21 NBA season, Nikola Jokic is in a groove offensively. The talented center entered Tuesday evening averaging 22.3 points per game, shooting 61.7 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from three-point range, and Jokic is also putting up 11.2 rebounds per contest. Beyond that, however, Jokic is leading the entire NBA in assists, averaging 12.8 per game, and that is not a small feat (even in a tiny sample) for any center.

In Denver’s seventh game of the season, Jokic showed no signs of slowing down, making an on-brand highlight play by finding JaMychal Green with an unbelievable pass to create a dunk.

Jokic produced five points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the first quarter alone against the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading the Nuggets to a double-digit lead with haste. On one hand, this kind of pass is not particularly jarring for Jokic, simply because he is well-regarded for his vision and execution. At the same time, a seven-foot center is not supposed to be able to do what Jokic does.

Prior to the start of the season, Jokic was already considered the best passing center of all-time. Nothing to this point should dissuade from that view, and this is yet another example.

On January 15, Griselda will release their debut film Conflicted. But before that arrives, the Buffalo-based label will share the movie’s soundtrack. With just days left until it arrives, Griselda dropped the project’s second single, which features Westside Gunn, Wale, and Smoke DZA. The trio linked up on “The Hurt Business” to throw their best rap bars on the table. The track’s title is named after the WWE quartet of Bobby Lashley, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander. Westside, Wale, and DZA are all WWE fans so it’s no surprise that they namedrop wrestlers like Ric Flair, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Ravishing Rick Rude, Gangrel, and The Rockers.

“The Hurt Business” comes less than a month after Benny The Butcher shared “3:30 In Houston,” the first single from the soundtrack. The track concerned the shooting incident at a Houston Wal-Mart that left Benny with a bullet wound in his leg. The soundtrack also sees appearances from Conway The Machine, Armani Caesar, Boldy James, Dave East, Lloyd Banks, and more. The film features actor Michael Rapaport as well as R&B singer J Holiday in addition to Benny and Westside.

Conflicted is just the latest project to arrive from Griselda, which follows an extremely productive 2020. Last year saw eight projects from five of its members, including Westside’s Pray For Paris, Caesar’s The Liz, and Benny’s Burden Of Proof.

You can listen to “The Hurt Business” above.

Conflicted is out 1/8 via Griselda. Pre-order it here.

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