Month: March 2021

When RX Peso performs his song “Up A Hill” on the latest episode of UPROXX Sessions, he makes sure to make his appearance unforgettable. While it’s not uncommon for performers to bring props — remember Dana Dentata’s elaborate, revenge-theme setup? — Peso posts up with a massive stack of cash, making it rain as he delivers his melodic rhymes.

After dropping a pair of Elevator-approved singles in 2019, Peso picked up his pace in 2021, putting out the 12-song project Drug Storm in January. For now, his operation appears to be fairly self-contained; the only feature on his most recent release is RX Hector, whom Peso shouts out fairly often on his Instagram in posts imploring the authorities to free Hector. Peso has had some high-profile co-signs, however; a pair of Playboi Carti songs leaked in 2019 suggest a connection, and early in his career, Peso was linked to fellow Atlantan Hoodrich Pablo Don.

Watch Peso’s money-hungry performance of “Up A Hill” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

The Weeknd has been abundantly clear and forthcoming about his displeasure with the Grammy Awards and the Recording Academy after his critical and commercial hit After Hours and its popular singles somehow earned no nominations for the 2021 awards. Now it looks like anything else The Weeknd makes won’t be up for consideration at future Grammy ceremonies either, but this time, it’s his choice: The Weeknd has declared that he is boycotting the Grammys.

In a statement made to The New York Times, The Weeknd said, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”

In response to The Weeknd’s statement, interim Recording Academy president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told the publication, “We’re all disappointed when anyone is upset. But I will say that we are constantly evolving. And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees.”

In an email interview with the publication, The Weeknd’s manager, Wassim Slaiby, said he was unclear why his client didn’t earn any nominations and noted, “We were many weeks and dozens of calls in with the Grammy team around Abel’s performance right up to the day of nominations being announced. We were scratching our heads in confusion and wanted answers.”

He also said, “The Grammys should handle their legacy and clean it up to raise the bar to a level where everyone could be proud to hold up that award. This is Harvey’s chance to step up and have his legacy be the guy who got the Grammys finally right.”

Read the full New York Times feature here.

Tucker Carlson sure is going to town lately in post-Trump America to keep himself entertained. The Fox News host is making things up about low sperm count and weed along with claiming that Democrats created QAnon, but now, he may have messed with the wrong crowd: the military. Why would Tucker do such a thing — ridiculing women who are brave enough serve on active duty while pregnant — since service members and veterans often skew conservative? There’s no telling what his logic is, but prominent members of the military community of all political persuasions are not pleased.

“Tucker Carlson doesn’t think women can serve in the military,” Vote Vets (which is a Democratic organization) tweeted. “Pretty bold words from a frozen food heir who couldn’t be bothered to serve himself.”

Tucker seemed pretty peeved after Joe Biden announced that the military had created maternity flight suits. “So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits,” Carlson declared on air. “Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the US military.” He then went on a tirade about Biden, who Carlson believes isn’t viewing China as a threat: “While China’s military becomes more masculine, as it assembles the world’s largest navy, our military needs [to] as Joe Biden says become more feminine.”

CNN reports that several military officials and the Pentagon (including spokesperson John Kirby and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin) feel “revulsion” by Tucker’s attack on female service members. Kirby added that the military is working to become “more inclusive, more respectful of everyone — especially women.” In doing so, “What we absolutely won’t do is take personnel advice from a talk show host, or the Chinese military. Maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove. That’s on them.”

Very quickly, officials rallied against Tucker’s words. General Paul Funk, Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott H. Stalker, and Major General Patrick Donahoe pushed back hard against Tucker, and Fort Hood Deputy Commanding General John B. Richardson IV tweeted, “Mothers in uniform fight & win our nation’s wars. Fathers in uniform fight & win our nation’s wars. Soldier is not a gendered noun.”

They weren’t alone. Soon enough, veterans, service members, and civilians alike called out Carlson for not recognizing the sacrifices and badassery coming from female service members. To that point, Joe Walsh tweeted, “Every woman in the military I’ve ever met could absolutely kick Tucker Carlson’s ass.”

Lieutenant General Theodore D. Martin shared a photo of his daughter while tweeting that women “are NOT ‘making a mockery of our military’… You WISH your daughter was as AWESOME as MINE! so BACK OFF.” And the deluge continued.

Will Tucker Carlson issue an apology? People are waiting to find out.

(Via CNN & Vote Vets)

As a famous definitely-not-Yoda movie character once noted, it’s all about merchandising. Deftones are pretty strong in that department. After releasing their new album Ohms last year, they returned earlier this year with a craft beer named after the album. Now they have another alcoholic collaboration on the way: Teaming up with Abre Ojos Tequila, the band is releasing a new tequila, which will be available on March 15, to mark the 20th anniversary of the album White Pony.

Deftones shared the news on social media, writing, “Continuing our White Pony 20th year celebration, we are very excited to share that our #WhitePony tequila, in collaboration with @AbreOjosTequila, is hitting retailers this Monday, the 15th. With notes of caramel, vanilla and toasted graham cracker, only 2,880 bottles of this special ‘Anniverario’ añejo have been produced.” They go on to note that it will be available in stores in California, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, DC, and in additional states online.

The product website notes, “The limited-edition Añejo was handcrafted in the town of Tequila, Jalisco. It is aged up to two years in American Oak used whiskey barrels creating caramel, vanilla, hazelnut, and chocolate notes. The buttery taste ends with a smoky, mature flavor. It is meant to sip and enjoy.”

Check out the trailer below.

Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas picked up their second straight win in the Big East Tournament on Thursday when they stunned top-seeded Villanova at Madison Square Garden in a 72-71 thriller to advance to the semifinals.

The Hoyas, having crushed Marquette on Wednesday, are rolling and have to keep it going, as at 11-12, they need to win the entire tournament to make it to the NCAA Tournament as the Big East’s automatic bid. The good news is they just dispatched the top team and are in a comfortable setting, at least for their head coach, as Ewing has put in more time at MSG than just about anyone, having starred for 15 years for the New York Knicks.

After the win over Villanova, Ewing reminded everyone that MSG is indeed “my house” and that the Hoyas were going to be a tough out as they looked to stun the Big East and swipe an automatic bid.

It’s a great line and it’s cool to see Georgetown playing this well and making a tournament run. While MSG may be Ewing’s house, it has some new staffers that aren’t apparently familiar with the Knicks legend and he had a laugh after the game about how he keeps getting stopped and asked for credentials and will need to talk to Knicks and MSG owner James Dolan about that.

Hopefully when Ewing arrives on Friday for the semis, he won’t have to deal with any security issues, and maybe the Hoyas can continue their magical run in a place he called home for most of his NBA career.

The days of using your parent’s Netflix account might be coming to an end. As noted by GammaWire (and confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter), the streaming service is sending warnings to certain users who are using an account that isn’t recognized as their own. “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so – both by the member who owns the account and under our Terms of Service,” a spokesperson said. If the warning does pop, users are given two options:

In order to continue watching, the viewer [can] either verify their identity (with a texted or emailed code to the account’s owner), or opt to “verify later,” which gives the viewer an unspecified additional amount of time to continue watching and later confirm they are a valid account user.

If you don’t get the code, you don’t get to continue watching Russian Doll.

In 2016, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings called password sharing a “positive thing” and “something you have to learn to live with, because there’s so much legitimate password sharing – like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids… so there’s no bright line, and we’re doing fine as is.” Netflix is still doing fine (it recently passed 200 million subscribers), but with more competition now than there was in 2016, password sharing is a thornier issue. Won’t somebody please think of the broke college kids?

(Via GammaWire and the Hollywood Reporter)

Fresh off of her Golden Globe win for I Care a Lot, actress Rosamund Pike stopped by The Ellen Show where she opened up about what happens to her acting awards when they make it back to her house. While most people usually display them on a shelf or toss them into a box somewhere up in the attic, Pike revealed that she has a more unusual method: burying them in the backyard. Turns out, the Gone Girl actress thinks having the awards in her home would lead to an awkward situation with guests, so instead, she buries them in the garden. But not all the way! She leaves “a little bit showing up, so you can have an enticing glimpse of a hand, or a… globe.” Because that’s way less awkward than seeing an Oscar above the fireplace.

Via The Independent:

“It’s probably some deeply psychological… if you’ve got any psychiatrists or therapists in your audience, maybe they’ll say it’s probably some deep lying imposter syndrome,” she suggested. “I find it an uneasy thing to display any award in your home. How do people interact with them when they come home? … I think it’s awkward.”

Pike locked down a 2021 Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture for her deranged, yet highly entertaining performance in Netflix’s I Care A Lot. Considering we’re only 10 days past the Globes ceremony, the question is whether Pike has had time to bury the evidence, or if the statue is sitting out on an end table and taunting her.

(Via The Ellen Show)

The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is arguably the most famous in all of golf. The 132-yard par 3 with an island green is iconic, a hole that even the most casual of golf fans is aware of.

The hole itself isn’t all that difficult, as it’s a large target with a wedge in your hand, but there’s a weight you feel walking to the tee box, amplified during The Players Championship when massive galleries surround the hillside. Add in windy conditions and the result is one of the most difficult wedge shots in all of golf. Thursday’s opening round of the 2021 Players Championship brought those blustery conditions, and as such 17 and 18 played as the two most difficult holes of the day.

No player was on the receiving end of the brutality 17 can inflict like Byeong Hun An, who arrived at 17 at 1-over on the day, and walked off the island green a 9-over. The back pin location and downwind conditions meant the real danger on Thursday was having the ball bounce over the green and into the water, which An found an almost incomprehensible four times — once from the tee and three times from the drop zone — on his way to an 11.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1370095434002276352

The shot-tracker of the hole is really something to behold.

It is the golfing trainwreck that you simply can’t look away from, as An pumps golf ball after golf ball into the water, living every golfer’s absolute worst nightmare. He would follow that up with a double bogey on 18 after driving one in the water off the tee, going 11-6 to close out his round and effectively end his week on the first day. He’s not the first to have a disastrous visit to the final two holes at Sawgrass, but for this week he will be the posterchild for what can go wrong at the island green.

In multiple ways, DaBaby is a 1. His two latest albums, Kirk and Blame It On Baby, both peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. His Roddy Ricch-featuring single “Rockstar” also topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He’s also a 1 in the eyes of a random grandmother who went viral after rating his appearance in a video, along with the looks of other rappers.

Snoop Dogg shared the clip on Instagram — likely because the grandma saw him and exclaimed, “15!” — and in it, a woman shares with her grandmother a photo gallery of rappers and asks her to rate them each on a scale of 1 to 10. She begins with DaBaby, who earned a simple response: “One.” DaBaby saw the clip and was a good sport about it, commenting, “Damn gma. [crying laughing emoji] Yeen got no love for baby?”

DaBaby actually wasn’t the worst performer of the clip, though. Some other rappers earned 1 ratings as well while others earned 0 scores from the discerning critic, like Lil Durk, Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and Lil Wayne, the latter of whom got a harsh score of “Oh my god, minus 0!”

Check out the hilarious clip above.

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

Ant Clemons might be a name you’re still getting acquainted with, but the New Jersey native is worthy of an immense amount of respect and attention. In just the last two years, Clemons has found himself working alongside artists like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Ty Dolla Sign, Jeremih, Chance The Rapper, Cordae, and more. All of it came as a result of landing a writing credit and background vocals on “All Mine” from Kanye West’s eighth album, Ye. While the project may have endured lukewarm reviews, the song turned out to be one of the album’s brightest moments.

“It was a song I did with my brother, Jeremih,” Clemons said during an interview with Uproxx. “It grew legs and moved and I had no idea that it was moving as fast as it was moving.” The record opened a multitude of doors for the singer, but just before folks could box him in as a songwriter, Clemons arrived with his debut project, Happy 2 Be Here, at the beginning of 2020. The 8-track effort delivered features from Timbaland, Pharrell, and Ty Dolla Sign and granted him the opportunity to establish his name as a lead artist, one he achieved as he earned a Best R&B Album Grammy nomination for it.

While the singer is — I’m sorry, I have to — happy to be here, winning the Grammy award would make things even sweeter. “I want to win Grammys, so God willing, I win this 2021 Best R&B Album Grammy,” he declared. “If this not this year, then it’s going to be the year after that, or the year after that because I know what’s meant for me is meant for me.”

In a few days, Ant Clemons will learn whether or not he’ll take home the coveted Grammy award. However, before that, we spoke to the singer about Happy 2 Be Here, life before fame, his songwriting style, and what he hopes is next for him.

You just celebrated the one-year anniversary of Happy 2 Be Here with the new song “June 1st.” It commemorates the day Kanye dropped his 2018 album Ye, one that you had a writing credit on. I can only assume the next few days after that moment were an absolute whirlwind, but I wanna hear from you. How did things really change after June 1st, 2018?

All of it was just surreal. It had been a whirlwind of just emotions and a culmination of hard work and perseverance, like meeting at one time in real life. It’s crazy when you think about those things. It’s like okay, yeah, there’ll be a milestone moment along the journey somewhere, but I can’t wait for it. I don’t even know what that looks like to me at this point. I was just working, so in it, just trying to figure out what my big break was going to be. What was going to be my Big Sean rapping for Kanye moment or like J. Cole going to New York and giving Hov the CD that he never heard or like Drake and Jas Prince and their relationship and then getting the call to go meet Wayne. Where was my validation from the people that I thought were great? That’s what I was constantly seeking and I kind of gave that up. I was like, you know, I’m done chasing this moment, and the moment I gave up looking forward to it, it happened for me. I talked to my friends about this, and I always laugh and joke about it, but I feel like I never went home because the me that came home [after working with Kanye] was Ant Clemens the artist that is on the song with Kanye that’s on the radio right now that just went No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. I was trying to catch up to it as it was happening in real life.

Your debut album, Happy 2 Be Here sounds like a drawn-out moment of gratitude, one that you of course earned through hard work and patience. Outside of working with Kanye, what about the journey before that June 1st day are you most grateful for?

If I began this list, one, I would say God. I’m just appreciative of the Lord. Then my parents, both my mom and my dad being my support system, like really telling me and my two sisters that we can literally do anything with Christ that strengthens us. So instilling that in us early gave me the confidence to succeed at anything. I didn’t really have any fear of being inadequate of anything because I knew I could conquer anything cause I always had God with me. But in human form, every single person along the journey from my big sister, who was the first person that grabbed me up and say, “Yo, we going to Cali, let’s let’s figure this out,” to my brothers Scott, Ali, and Dre, who allowed me to stay at their house and just write one song a day instead of rent. My brother Ray Keys introduced me to my brother Bongo [ByTheWay]. Both Ray and Bongo are like my bros for life. Bongo introduced me to The Game, Jeremih, and Ty Dolla Sign and I’m meeting all these people I’ve always dreamed of working with. It was so cool having moments of like, wow, I’m really right here looking across from The Game or looking across a Ty Dolla Sign, and they actually care about what I have to say.

I feel like the phrase, “Happy 2 Be Here,” also lives in your songwriting world. We’ve seen you in rooms with the likes on SZA, Ty Dolla Sign, Justin Timberlake, Wale, and more. What is your favorite aspect of writing with other artists?

Being able to walk in a room and see someone that you’ve only seen on television is an experience that I just don’t think I’ll ever just get over. I keep that in me because I choose to be happy to be here because we do have some form of a choice as to which emotion we’ll give light to and I want to choose happiness every day. For me, being happy to be here, just looking around, taking a moment, actually breathing, and thanking God just for right now, helps me to remember that I could be somewhere else. I could be doing something completely different than what I’m doing right now and this might not be where I want to be, but I got to be happy to be here to get to where I want to go. So not in the space of I’m fearful of the blessings going away, but I want to make sure my heart posture is correct at all times. Walking in a room with someone that I’ve always wanted to work with is a great feeling when you’re songwriting. Working with brand new people that you’ve never met before, that you just have the common love of music is a fun thing. I like creating and if I can catch a vibe with you in the studio because you also like to create it, we gon’ make it happen.

What’s the process of songwriting like for you? Are you introverted or extroverted? Do you knock it out quickly or is it a drawn-out process? How’s it work for you?

I like to think I draw it out quickly, the process is pretty fast now. It’s kind of repetition like shooting a jump shot, the mechanics of making sure you have your elbow tucked in, the follow-through. Once you do it a certain amount of times, no matter what course you go to, you’re able to get into your groove. I used to be a little introverted because I was just shy. I didn’t want people to know what I did, but my personality is extroverted, if you will. So I like people to be included in my deepest thoughts. It’s like, well, how does this make you feel? How does this sound? Is this coming out the way I want it to sound? I like feeding ideas off of people. For me, the writing process used to be writing in my phone and to a beat. Now I hate listening to beats, I don’t want to hear no beats, don’t you send me no beats! For me, when I hear the music for the first time, I want to be able to react to it and if I can’t record it and I heard it on the phone, it’s like I’ll be trying to recreate my very first reaction to it. It might be because I’m just so ADD when it comes to creating that it’s so freestyle-based, I get to whatever it is I want to get to and then it’s on to the next one.

And speaking of that Grammy, where were you when you found out you got nominated? How’d you celebrate the news?

I’ve been still trying to figure out if it’s real, to be honest. I woke up to a whole bunch of messages and stuff, and my friends were blowing me up. I went on Twitter and I saw Gayle King say, Best R&B Album, the nominations are and then say Ant Clemons and I was like she knows my name?? It really didn’t hit me until I was listening to the Joe Budden Podcast and I heard Joe say “Ant Clemons,” I was like, “wow, this is a thing.” I celebrated by being in the studio, but I’m in the studio all the time. I went right back to work, just super excited and I’m still in a space of shock that this is even a thing. I loved Happy 2 Be Here, I loved working on those records, but I had no clue that people felt the same way. To be nominated and to be accepted by your peers is such a cool thing.

I saw that you recently made a virtual visit to your alma mater, Burlington County Institute of Technology, to speak to students. Why did you feel it was important to head back there.

Man, I can’t tell you how cool it is to have your high school or someone from your high school even know what you do outside of there. But to think that those amazingly talented students at BCIT wanted me to even speak to them was surreal. Dr. Ashanti Holly, I love her to death, she was like one of my superintendents when I was in middle school, so to see that she’s a part of the BCIT high school experience is so cool. A couple of my teachers shared some really cool comments and it was the best man like that’s what all it is is about. If it’s not for everyone, then it’s not for me. I learned a long time ago that my life, not that it’s meaningless, but it wasn’t about me. I started living my best life when I really realized that it had nothing to do with me. It was really about what I could do for others and how I could help. So anytime somebody has a question, it’s my responsibility to answer because I would want somebody to turn around and give me answers just to help me get from point A to point B. If I’m not doing that and I’m not being an example, then what are we doing?

In a second life, what would Ant Clemens be doing if it wasn’t being an artist? Where’s your second passion lie?

It would be in the art in some form. I draw like so it would be graphic design, I’d probably be an animator at Disney somewhere. I’d probably be in church somewhere, not saying that that’s not what I’m doing right now. I’m not sure, my mom always told me that my grandma said I would be a pastor when I was a kid. That was something in the back of my head that was really scary to think of cause I was like that’s a big responsibility, I don’t want to be in charge of anybody getting into heaven or not. I don’t think that’s what a pastor is, but as a kid I didn’t want to be the guy that says yes or no in heaven, that’s a lot of responsibilities. But nah, in another life I’d probably be expressing myself in some form or fashion. If it wasn’t through song and dance, it’d be through some type of visual art. I got to express myself.

You’ve worked with some of the industry’s best, you’re Grammy-nominated, you’ve got a growing resume, and you’ve only put out one album. So what’s next for you on the bucket list?

It’s so many things. I’m very, very happy, but I guess I’m never content. So I’m constantly setting goals and I want to work with Drake. I’ve been saying it everywhere, I would love to work with Drake. I want to work with Frank Ocean. There’s a few people — Kendrick, I would love to do some stuff with Kendrick — and be able to at least get in the room with some of my favorites before they venture off and do other things outside of music. But outside of just music goals, I’m really excited to just live and be able to experience everything that God has for me. I’ll be 30 this year, I’ve never even thought about what my life would look like at 30. I thought I’d be like getting ready to get married or something. So, whatever the Lord has for me this year and this time, I’m excited for it.

Happy 2 Be Here (Anniversary Edition) is out now via legion/Human Re Sources. Get it here.