Month: February 2021

The pop music world went into a frenzy after Olivia Rodrigo released her debut single “Drivers License,” which named-dropped a particular “blonde girl” who had swept away her ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett. Shortly after the single’s release, Sabrina Carpenter, apparently the “blonde girl” in question, released her own song “Skin.” Though Carpenter’s song seemingly responded directly to lyrics in Rodrigo’s song, the singer claims that was not the case. Now, she’s brought the single to late-night television with a performance on The Late Late Show With James Corden.

Carpenter gave a dazzling rendition of the soulful song in an abandoned warehouse. She started her performance with a delicate piano and her soaring lyrical delivery. Eventually, Carpenter moved to an area that was pouring down rain, evoking the act of washing away her critics.

Just ahead of the performance, Carpenter sat down with Corden and addressed the drama surrounding the single, saying that people have misinterpreted its meaning:

“I genuinely was coming from a place as a 21-year-old that is navigating her feelings and was going through a lot in my personal life. The reoccurring theme was that I was allowing people to get under my skin. So I wrote from that place, knowing that there’s so many experiences that will continue to happen to me in my life where I have to remind myself that people can only get to you if you allow them to. […] People will make a narrative out of something always. I think this was a really interesting song for people to misinterpret and make it into something that it really wasn’t supposed to be in the first place. But I’ve just been enjoying making music.”

Watch Carpenter perform “Skin” and chat about the single with Corden on The Late Late Show above.

Late Tuesday evening, Twitter came alive with rumors that actress Lauren London, the late Nipsey Hussle’s former partner and the mother of his son Kross, was pregnant after again finding romance. The rumor originated with local Los Angeles newspaper the LA Sentinel, which published a short story claiming a source “confirmed” London’s pregnancy. The Black-owned newspaper has long been a staple of the South Los Angeles Black community, but locals know to take many of its stories with a grain of salt.

However, on the Wild West that is social media, the rumor spread like wildfire, with many weighing in on their opinions of London purportedly finding love after Hussle’s death in 2019. Unfortunately, her love life has been a favored topic of debate as she was so closely tied to such a beloved public figure; many believe that any suggestion she could move on so “soon” after Nipsey’s death is disrespectful to his memory, while others want her to be allowed to live her life without scrutiny.

London herself finally addressed the rumor herself before the buzz could get too loud, definitively shutting it down. “Woke up to some straight bullsh*t,” she vented in her first tweet of 2021. “Rumors ! Lies ! On a woman trying her best to heal?! Please stop. I’m NOT pregnant.”

Lauren was previously forced to deal with the public’s obsession with her shortly after Nipsey’s death in 2019, when Kodak Black drew attention for flirting with her on his Instagram account. His comments, which were perceived as disrespectful by many in the hip-hop community, resulted in a ban from LA’s Power 106.

For some reason, Phoebe Bridgers has been facing backlash after she smashed a guitar on Saturday Night Live this weekend. As she noted last night, she’s been “cancelled by incels.” A lot of people have her back, though, including Dave Grohl.

Foo Fighters guested on the Howard Stern Show this morning and as Consequence Of Sound notes, Grohl said of Bridgers’ SNL guest spot, “I saw that performance — I actually talked to my mom about it. […] She goes, ‘What did you think about that girl Phoebe?’ I’m like, ‘She’s got a beautiful voice, she can really sing.’ My mother was like, ‘I loved it, I thought she was great!’ When you watch us jam and freak out and do our thing… I think that’s what they did.”

He went on to compare it to his days in Nirvana, saying, “It was every f*cking night. My drums had holes in them from Kurt [Cobain] f*cking chopping my drums. I’ve seen enough smashed guitars. It feels f*cking good to do it.”

Grohl also spoke about the re-emergence of guitar-based rock music, saying, “You have to understand that for the last 10 years, every interview I do I’m asked, ‘Is rock and roll dead? There’s no guitars anymore!’ So in the last year, there’s been this return to guitar rock music in popular music — like, Miley Cyrus is becoming Joan Jett… You’re starting to see, people are realizing rock and roll is cool.”

For brief week in the beginning of December 2020, Mellissa Carone was the national punchline thanks to her feisty, erratic and sometimes slurring testimony during a hearing on voter fraud. Carone was a contractor for Dominion Voting Systems and questionably claimed to have proof that votes were being stolen from Donald Trump. Obviously, that strategy didn’t pan out, but Carone quickly became known as “Rudy Giuliani’s Wine Lady,” which led to her being parodied on Saturday Night Live and being the butt of jokes by late night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel.

After sketchy details about her personal life began to emerge, Carone disappeared from the spotlight. However, she’s back, and this time, she’s running for office. The 33-year-old Republican is reportedly going after a seat in the state’s House of Representatives, according to The Detroit News:

“I am running on election integrity,” Carone said in a Tuesday interview.

She also criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the state’s three top Democrats. Michigan needs “conservative values” back, Carone said.

As for Carone’s chances of winning, it is a Republican district. While she does have a bizarre legal record for sending sex tapes of herself to her fiance’s ex-wife, that could easily be canceled out by Carone’s penchant for repeating right-wing conspiracy theories. During an interview with Sarah Palin’s website, Carone accused the Obamas of creating COVID and repeated her claims that she has “binders” of evidence that Dominion rigged the election. Granted, Palin’s website pulled the interview within hours, but it does show that Carone knows how to work the more conspiratorial-minded factions of the GOP, which could work in her favor.

(Via The Detroit News)

The SNL Zillow porn sketch hit so hard I think it knocked a tooth loose. Because I, like you, fill the empty space by delighting in the collision of envy and judgment that comes from looking at other people’s homes on the internet. You know, as a part of the ruse that we’re there for anything other than to curse them for their access to natural light and laugh at them for that couch. That couch, so plaid, so sad. But sometimes normal Zillow (or Realtor or Trulia) gives way to something truly magical.

Maybe it’s a home from the 1880s with a jail inside. Or the one that captivated the internet for its plethora of DVDs, interesting furniture combos, and side by side toilets. My all-time favorite house is this now off-the-market California property that has, according to the images, a model train city, pirate paraphernalia galore, and a telescope pod.

What I love most about these listings is that they aren’t wholly weird. They’re seemingly normal listings that just seem to get overtaken by unique and colorful details and detours to create something illuminated by smiling faces that unite us all in “whoa.” But you can’t game or buy your way in. It just happens. As it is now, with Joe Pesci’s freshly re-listed beach house that he’s lived in since the ’90s. And that’s a weird thing in and of itself because the dry and boring celebrity real estate genre is usually filled with houses that are immaculately staged with “you too could eat your cereal in an antiseptic art museum for $40 million dollars” vibes. But Joe Pesci’s beach house is a place where life has happened. One very specific life, with reminders of that life and his epic career (Goodfellas, My Cousin Vinny, Home Alone) spread all over the place. And that’s why the house that 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag probably partially paid for earns our interest. So, let’s look through some of the images from the listing together while we share a few stream of consciousness thoughts.

1. According to the Re/Max listing from Michael Puccio, it’s a 7,200+ square foot beach house on nearly 1/3 an acre with its own dock. It’s objectively gorgeous and a worthy palace for someone who has spent his entire life entertaining the masses. 90% of the listing reflects that and that alone. But again, that’s the charm of these things. Everything is normal and then, blam, a barber’s chair in your doorway reveals unanticipated character while teasing at a larger story that you will never know. Ever.

Anyway, I chose this picture to show off the expanse of the house and to remind everyone that the most baller thing you can do is have a pool directly beside a body of water.

2. The aforementioned barber’s chair. There’s another picture that shows that there’s a framed photo on the chair. I’m sure there’s some kind of sentimental story here. It’s just… why right next to the door? Does Joe Pesci so value a clean look that he requires all guests to get a haircut and a shave before entering his home to gaze at his posters and very small TVs? Again, we’ll never know the true story here. And I love that.

3. A reminder that Joe Pesci sings beautifully. He raps terribly. But he sings beautifully, so good for him for this understated but stocked music area. I wonder which of Pesci’s famous friends have jammed in that room during parties. Little Steven Van Zandt? Bruce? I don’t know that they’re friends with Pesci, I’m just assuming all New Jersey famous people have a text chain and do things together. Has Joe Piscopo crooned in that room? If those walls could snitch… you know, because mob movies. Anyway, I don’t care for those chairs. Too pedestrian. This listing needs more whimsical and/or ornate furniture. Hit up 1stDibs and drop the cost of a gently used Prius on a Louis XVI living room set, man.

Sidebar: if Zillow porn is your kink, let me introduce you to 1stDibs, where garrish and expensive antique furniture and baubles can be sifted through delivering the same jealousy and “my god, that’s hideous” superiority that you get from browsing home listings. But it’s also, like, a really informative history lesson. Back to Joe!

4. That’s what I’m fucking talking about. A goddamn horse next to a floral print chair with sad rolls. Like the barber chair, I imagine there is some kind of sentimental inspiration for this very specific design choice. Perhaps something related to the Jersey Shore (the place, not the show, though my God…)

Do you think Joe Pesci has sat atop that horse at any point while smoking a big cigar? Like, not to be funny. Not to act like a clown [REFERENCE!]… How could you not?

5. The Lethal Weapon 3 pinball machine is going for like 4 grand on eBay. If Joe doesn’t play the hell out of this thing he could absolutely sell it to buy an antique bell on 1stDibs or some kind of scepter, which they have.

Pesci basically stopped acting (save for a couple of projects) after the ’90s, and now I’m wondering if it’s because he ran out of wall space for his posters. Also, where the hell is the maroon tux from My Cousin Vinny? That thing should be behind glass and on a wall like the Hall of Fame garment that it is.

6. Everything in me wants to say that the bust atop that filing cabinet is the model of Pesci’s head that they used in his episode of Tales From The Crypt when he came upon a set of twins who cut him in half, but that might be wishful thinking. Anyway, while this place qualifies as a lux beach house (albeit in Jersey) and the Joe Pesci museum that the world needs, it does fail in one regard (two is that tux is nowhere to be found): what’s with the TVs, Joe? I don’t like knowing that my TVs are bigger than Pesci’s TVs. I’m sure it’s a matter of priority for him (and me), like maybe he’s one of those “I don’t watch TV, I sing in Italian, slow cook meats, and make love to models” types even into his late 70s. Which would be amazing. That’s the life I want for him. But it still feels like the universe is out of joint knowing Joe Pesci might be watching Raging Bull on a tiny picture tube set. And heaven forbid Scorsese finds out.

Anyway, Pesci’s West Point Island mansion can be had for just $6.5 million. If, somehow, you find your way to buying this house by way of this article, make sure I get a referral fee. I think that’s a thing. Also, INSIST on getting all the sweet Pesci collectibles as a throw-in. Especially the tux!

Bruce Springsteen was spending time in his home state of New Jersey last November when he had an alleged run-in with police officers. The legendary singer had been drinking that night and instead of springing for an ride share, Springsteen decided to drive home. As a result, it looks like he could be facing charges for driving under the influence.

TMZ first broke the news about Springsteen’s DWI charges from the November 14th incident. The singer was apparently drinking and spending time at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey when he was pulled over. He was then reportedly cited for driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, and consuming alcohol in a closed area. According to the report, Springsteen is expected to make a court appearance in the coming weeks.

While Springsteen may have to go to court in the near future, he recently had some good news for his fans. The singer teased that he was planning on releasing new music this year following his 2020 LP Letter To You. “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 on his SiriusXM channel, E Street Radio. “I do have things to keep me busy this year that will give the fans something to bide their time with.” He also mentioned that he’s hoping to hit the road and tour in 2022, assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned.

Nas and Hit-Boy have proven to be a potent combination on the 30-year hip-hop veterans’ latest album King’s Disease and now, they’ve shared a snippet of their next high-profile collaboration, “E.P.M.D.” The song will officially release on the soundtrack to the historical Black Panthers drama Judas And The Black Messiah this Friday, February 12, alongside tracks from HER and Jay-Z and Nipsey Hussle.

“E.P.M.D.” is named, naturally, after the groundbreaking golden era duo from which Nas borrows the lyrics that open the track. “E.P.M.D., we back in business,” he barks before launching into a trademark verse packed with wordplay and references to the film’s titular “Black messiah,” Fred Hampton. Nas has often name-checked Hampton and the Panthers in his music, so having him on the soundtrack is a smart tactic.

However, one person who also constantly references Hampton’s views in her work will not be on the soundtrack after seeing the movie. Noname, the outspoken Chicago rapper who is connected with the leader in both perspective and hometown, said that she disagreed with the film’s portrayal of the civil rights hero and turned down a placement alongside her Ghetto Sage compatriots Saba and Smino.

Meanwhile, a popular Twitter meme that former rival Jay-Z has stepped on each of Nas’ last three release dates with a project of his own has taken on new life with the announcement of Jay’s Nipsey Hussle collaboration dropping on the same day — even though both songs are on the same project. We’ll see which of the two tracks garners the most attention Friday, 2/12 with the release of both Judas And The Black Messiah and its soundtrack. In the meantime, check out Nas’ new song snippet above.

Tucker Carlson must be beside himself over Trump’s second impeachment trial happening. The entire production seems to be straight out of Michael Bay’s mind (that’s Trevor Noah’s take) after Trump’s newest bumbling lawyer, Bruce Castor, caused quite a reaction (even from Ice-T) with his opening remarks, which made Rudy Giuliani look like the pro of all pros. Sean Hannity used his air time to gently suggest that Trump replace Castor, but Tucker Carlson claims that he wasn’t paying attention.

Yes, Tucker hilariously declared that he “didn’t watch any” of the impeachment proceedings so far. Instead, he is very, very worried about the COVID vaccines and decided to sow some doubt and spread more information. Tucker already did this in mid-December — and did so days after Fox News head honcho Rupert Murdoch received his vaccine — and it didn’t go over well then, and it’s not going over well now.

Tucker’s position is that the impeachment trial is being used as a distraction, and what does Tucker feel is much more important? He’s all about calling out a mysterious “they,” who he believes is lying about vaccine safety, and he believes that Americans should distrust the two vaccines because they are rolling out, “But life did not return to normal. Life got worse.” Tucker does not appear to realize that only a small fraction of Americans have been vaccinated thus far. And Tucker believes that no one is allowed to verbalize concerns about the vaccines (which is not true, look all over Twitter).

“Well there’s nothing QAnon about questions like that. They’re not conspiracy theories,” Tucker inaccurately complained. “They’re the most basic questions. In a democracy, every citizen has a right to know the answer, but we got fluff and propaganda. The media rollout for the vaccine came off like a Diet Pepsi commercial at the Super Bowl: tons of celebrity endorsements, not a lot of science.”

Tucker is, as Twitter is pointing out, laundering his own propaganda while accusing those who support COVID vaccines as the propagandists. It’s all very circular, but that’s how Tucker rolls. He is, not incidentally, on quite a roll lately, even referring to ex-Fox News colleague Shep Smith as “overheated news guy” while sarcastically slamming Shep’s coverage of a Florida grocery store where hardly anyone wore masks.

People aren’t pleased with Tucker and are flat-out calling his stance “disgusting,” not to mention dangerous and “disingenuous.”

Also, there’s the whole matter of Tucker’s boss, Rupert Murdoch, getting vaccinated while Tucker runs wild with misinformation.

Meanwhile, liberal social media activism organization Sleeping Giants isn’t buying what Tucker is selling (in a few ways), so they are offering $1000 in merch dollars to anyone who can prove that Tucker’s been vaccinated.

Waxahatchee had one of last year’s better albums with Saint Cloud, and now, nearly a year after its release, she has finally made her late-night television debut playing one of its songs: Katie Crutchfield stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to perform “Lilacs.”

The performance was pre-taped remotely, from inside a white room adorned with golden whear and her backing band. Wearing an appropriately lilac-colored outfit, she and the band confidently ran through the vulnerable track.

Crutchfield previously said of the song, “‘Lilacs’ was the last song I wrote for the record and it’s mostly just about obsessive/negative thought patterns. It’s about backsliding into old behaviors that don’t serve you and sort of letting your worst self get the best of you. I think that when people are in that mindset they can really try to turn the blame onto other people, so the song sort of plays out like a conflict you’d have with someone you love. It’s meant to capture that moment of heat that happens right when you realize you’re wrong or that your issue is more with yourself than with someone else — being flawed and fragile but making progress inch by inch. The chorus serves as a sweet little resolve. I wanted it to feel like the light at the end of the tunnel, and the reminder that it can always and often does get better.”

Watch Waxahatchee perform “Lilacs” on Kimmel above.

It’s impossible to celebrate an extraordinary journey without talking about its beginning, no matter how humble it may be. For Los Angeles rap legend Nipsey Hussle, that was a decade ago, when he took the first step on his marathon mission with an album that mapped out the course he completed shortly before his passing in 2019. Over the years, the persona he’d curate of a streetwise, authentic, businessman/gangster/philosopher would become iconic, but the foundation of it was laid here, on The Marathon.

The Marathon is not really a groundbreaking album. I think that’s fair to say because, at the time of its release, there were dozens like it — and Nipsey always characterized it as a mixtape, technically speaking. 2011 was right around the beginning of the blog era boom that saw artists from all over the nation rise to prominence behind self-created mixtapes that played like albums — albeit, ones loaded with “borrowed” instrumentals from popular radio jams. Nipsey himself lifted the backing tracks from MGMT’s “Electric Feel,” Fabolous’ “You Be Killin Em,” Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y’s “Paper Planes,” Pretty Ricky’s “On The Hotline,” and Kanye West’s “Runaway,” sprinkling in the familiar hits among the original beats.

However, The Marathon also marked the departure from the purely mixtape-focused Nipsey into something else. The flow got crisper, yes, but the words got wiser. Nip leaned back a little from the talk of midday shootouts and under-the-table pharmaceutical sales that defined his Bullets Ain’t Got No Names series. The braggadocio began to come with gems scattered among the flexes. The original production grew more polished, betraying a desire for Billboard hits or, at the very least, national airplay. Consider the backing track for “Top Down“; Nipsey never sounded quite as commercial before, even on his one massive radio smash at the time, “Hussle In The House.”

But here, he displayed the lessons that he learned from his hit single. Where “Hussle In The House” paired Nipsey’s unusual, “cutting” flow with something familiar, the beat from Kris Kross’ 1992 debut single “Jump,” to make it more palatable to audiences who’d never set foot on the streets of South Central Los Angeles. It’s one thing to rap about Rimpau Blvd. alongside a guy named Rimpau but if the beat doesn’t capture folks’ attention immediately, they’ll never even listen long enough to remark on that irony. By tapping then-megahits like “Electric Feel” and “Runaway,” Nipsey put himself in a position for his street-smart philosophy to be heard.

This was also the first time we began to hear the roots of his capitalistic amibitions. While he’d flexed champagne and flatscreen televisions on Bullets Ain’t Got Names and Slauson Boy, The Marathon was the first time he tapped into the instinct at the heart of those flexes. “Rebel in this white man world until they bury him,” he snaps on “Keys 2 The City.” “Being broke is so un-American.” He was still a few steps away from the outrageous self-belief that led to the establishment of his “Proud To Pay” initiative and infamous $100 mixtape Crenshaw, but shades of it and his sage persona began to emerge here.

He also showed off his tech savvy, transitioning from hand-to-hand sales of his prior mixtapes to internet distribution. This was the real crossover for him; new technologies like streaming allowed for the tape to reach a broader audience and, unlike many of his peers and predecessors, he embraced them wholeheartedly. He saw the value in being an early adopter, in treading untamed territory and staking a claim before the lane got too crowded. He knew that the gratification for his big risks might well be delayed; that’s why he called the tape The Marathon.

Nipsey Hussle called his shot with this one mixtape, then made that mixtape groundbreaking and revolutionary with every action he took afterward. He made good on its promises, then paid homage to his own accomplishments with his debut album Victory Lap. Think about that; by the time his first “official” album dropped, Nipsey already considered himself a winner.

Ask anyone who runs or has run a marathon and they’ll tell you — it isn’t about time or speed or destination. It’s about lacing up your shoes at the starting line after months — perhaps years — of preparation, of proving to yourself that you can do this… and then, doing it. Taking that first step, then the next, then the next, until your lungs are burning, your legs feel like they’re going to fall off, and everything in you tells you to quit… but you don’t. You finish the race, just by running it. Ten years ago, Nipsey Hussle took on that responsibility. It’s safe to say, he earned his victory lap. Still, though, his legacy, the mission he set out on all those years ago, lives on. The marathon, as they say, continues.

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