Month: March 2021

Justin Bieber released his anticipated album Justice earlier this week. He’s been able to perform a handful of the singles on late-night talk shows but since he still can’t tour behind the album, the singer instead opted to offer listeners a live performance of his Justice fan favorite “Hold On.”

Directed by Micah Bickham, the live performance puts Bieber amid a hazy location. He opens the song in front of a glowing red structure and as the camera pans out, it’s made clear that Bieber is surrounded by various red light installations in the middle of a chilling forest. His full band is interspersed between the trees and Bieber is able to move between each member while keeping a safe six-foot distance.

Bieber’s goal for the album was to lean more into his R&B sound, tapping contributors like Giveon, Daniel Caesar, and Khalid to lend their smooth vocals. Justice also a verse from Chance The Rapper on his single “Holy.” Although the two musicians are friends, Chance did not make the list of Bieber’s top five favorite rappers, which he recently named. Instead, Bieber said named Drake, Kanye West, Eminem, Biggie, and Lil Wayne as some of his go-to MCs at the moment.

Watch Bieber’s “Hold On” performance above.

Justice is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.

From the moment he was moved to the Houston Rockets, rumors have swirled about Victor Oladipo being available as the NBA approached its trade deadline. Despite the fact that no word came in until after the 3 p.m. EST deadline, the Rockets were able to find a suitor for the former All-Star guard.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Miami Heat came up with a package that convinced the Rockets to move Oladipo. In exchange, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Tim MacMahon of ESPN report that the Rockets will get back Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and a 2022 pick swap.

It’s been a weird year or so for Oladipo, who didn’t get a ton of time to come back from a torn quadriceps before the COVID-19 pandemic made the league press pause. He originally did not want to participate in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, but ultimately played for the Indiana Pacers and didn’t look quite like himself. Even this year, it’s evident he still is not back to where he was at his best, averaging 20.8 points, five rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals for the Pacers and Rockets.

Having said that, this is not a particularly gigantic steep price tag that the Heat had to meet, and Oladipo is a relatively low-risk acquisition. Now, the team has a new running mate on the wing alongside Jimmy Butler, and the hope will assuredly be that being on a team where he does not need to be the man will let Oladipo focus on the things he does best. And as an added twist, Oladipo is slated to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and he has previously turned down an extension offer from the Rockets of two years and $45.2 million.

Kyle Lowry will remain a member of the Toronto Raptors, despite what many felt was a farewell on Wednesday night, including a FaceTime from Drake, and weeks of rumors that the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers were all in on discussions.

Lowry’s name has been bandied about all year due to the Raptors’ struggles and the possibility that he would want to move on to be on a contender once again, but it seems a deal couldn’t be struck. After the Sixers traded for George Hill, it seemed they would no longer be putting a massive offer on the table for Lowry, and reports emerged that there were sticking points with the Lakers and Heat deals that apparently never let it cross the finish line. The Lakers were apparently unwilling to part with Talen Horton-Tucker, who is by far their most promising young player, while the Heat refused to put Tyler Herro into their Duncan Robinson-centric package.

The anticipation for a Lowry deal was building throughout the day, as the Raptors seemed to pave the way for the deal with a pair of smaller moves earlier in the day, moving Matt Thomas to the Jazz and Terence Davis to the Kings, each for a second round pick.

Those deals felt like they were opening roster spots to make a Lowry move, but one never materialized. The Raptors did make one major trade, dealing Norman Powell to the Blazers for Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr. earlier in the day, landing a younger shooter in Trent who will be a restricted free agent this summer as it appeared likely they wouldn’t be able to keep Powell as he hits unrestricted free agency. By keeping Lowry, they keep the heart and soul of the franchise and will likely continue their push for a spot in the play-in.

On the season, Lowry has averaged 17.4 points, 7.5 assists, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 34.8 minutes per game. While the team is 18-26 this season, it does have a young core in OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, and Fred VanVleet that is still capable of competing in the second half of this year and, if there wasn’t a strong deal to upgrade for the future out there for Lowry, they’d rather keep the franchise legend than deal him for less than they feel he is worth.

For all its reputation as a cult classic vision of a dystopian potential future (one you could arguably say we’re already living in, minus the flying cars), the film Blade Runner is actually pretty slow, with a deliberate, drawn-out pace that belies the excitement with which its biggest fans talk about it.

However, “Blade Runner,” the song performed by boundary-pushing Washington DC rapper Kamiyada+ in his UPROXX Sessions debut, is nothing of the sort. Despite a glitchy sample loop meant to sound like the electronic, synth-riddled soundtrack of the film and a cyberpunk-styled fashion sense, Kamiyada’s track is anything but slow. Instead, it’s a propulsive, aggressive song, highlighted by his gritty, yell-rap delivery and antisocial subject matter.

Kamiyada is just four months removed from his last full-length release, December’s DEATHTRAP+++2, the sequel to his 2018 original. Between the two releases, he also dropped two EPs, Live From Space, Vol. 2 in 2018, and A Traumatic Experience in 2019. Although he hasn’t announced a new project for this year, he did release the video for his latest single, “U Made The Devil Cry,” yesterday.

Watch Kamiyada’s aggressive performance of “Blade Runner” 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 New Orleans Pelicans had two players, Lonzo Ball and J.J. Redick, who were viewed as extremely available ahead of the 2021 NBA trade deadline. According to reports, half of that pair will stay in the Bayou while the other is on his way out of town in a trade that came in just under the wire.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Redick is on his way to Dallas. While details are still trickling out, Charania reports that the Spurs are involved and Trey Lyles was — at first — heading to the Mavericks. Tim Cato of The Athletic likewise added some pieces on the move in this deal, including Wes Iwundu and James Johnson heading to New Orleans. But those tweets were later deleted, as the deal continues to take shape.

Redick has not been a consistent member of the Pelicans’ rotation, and this year, he’s connecting on a career-worst 36.4 percent of his threes. His hope will assuredly be that going to Dallas, which has needed floor spacing after moving on from Seth Curry in the summer, will lead to a more consistent role and help him get back into the rhythm that has turned him into one of the best marksmen in league history.

As for Ball, he’s not going anywhere, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Ball has played fantastic basketball this year — 14.2 points, 5.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 31.7 minutes per game — and is slated to become a restricted free agent at the conclusion of this year. While there was believed to be plenty of interest in the ability to acquire him and have the right to match any offer he signs this offseason, that power will stay with the Pelicans.

Let’s face it, “Saturday Night Live” nailed it when they chose Alec Baldwin to play Donald Trump on the show, but they missed the mark casting Jim Carrey as Joe Biden. Carrey’s Biden was all-over-the-map, sometimes he was a doddering old man, other times he bounced around, making finger guns and acting like a 1930’s brawler.

This season, Carrey was replaced by cast member Alex Moffat and the results, so far, haven’t been very memorable. In the past, Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson, John Mulaney, and Kevin Nealon have all taken a shot at playing Biden on “SNL.”

Former “SNL” cast member Dana Carvey appears to have found the secret sauce to impersonating Biden and it’s so good that he should return to the show as the president.

Why not?

Maya Rudolph rejoined the cast to play Kamala Harris. Carvey was probably best known on ‘SNL’ for his impersonation of George H.W. Bush which was the gold standard during his presidency.

He also famously played the Church Lady and Garth on “Wayne’s World.”

Carvey debuted his Biden impersonation on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Tuesday. Carvey says his impersonation is the one you see at a town hall. That’s the more empathetic version of Biden that we’ve seen a lot of since the COVID-19 outbreak.

“I do him at the town hall when he’s like the gentle father to the country and he looks like the alien who came off the spaceship in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,'” Carvey explained to host Colbert. He also peppers in Biden’s unique ability to lose his train of thought mid-sentence.

“Folks, c’mon. Folks, let’s get real here. You know, we’ve got to do the thing,” Carvey said while squinting his eyes. “We did with Barack, we did the deal. And, you know, my dad, you know, lost his job in Scranton. No joke! No joke, I’m not being a wise guy here. I said, ‘Pops, why did you lose it?’ He said, ‘Joe, I did.’ My mom said, ‘That’s the cookie that crumbles.”

People contain multitudes, so the best impersonators seem to focus on one aspect of their subject’s personality. Carvey’s approach is similar to the one taken by master Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson, who focuses on Trump’s behavior at rallies. His initial attempts at impersonating Trump targeted his bigotry, but he soon realized that that’s more bothersome than funny to most.

Carvey also did his Dr. Anthony Fauci impersonation on the episode. To Carvey, Fauci comes off as “kind of a tough guy.” Here, he imagines what a conversation between Fauci and Paul McCartney would sound like.

Jessica Walter, who played two of TV’s most toxic-but-lovable mothers in Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development and Malory Archer on Archer, died in her sleep on Wednesday, according to Deadline. She was 80 years old.

Walter has too many credits to name them all, but her career highlights include: an Emmy for the 1974 miniseries Amy Prentiss; two Golden Globe nominations for 1966’s Grand Prix and 1971’s Play Misty with Me; guest spots on Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, and Columbo; and voicing Fran Sinclair on Dinosaurs. But to millions, she was best known for her performances on the FXX animated series Archer (where she got to work alongside her late husband, Ron Leibman) and Fox’s Arrested Development, one of the funniest sitcoms ever, due in no small part to Lucille’s boozy wit.

Walter is survived by her granddaughter, Brooke Bowman, who said in a statement, “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off. While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class and overall joie de vivre.” Her family asks that instead of flowers, donations be made to Guide Dogs for the Blind.

(Via Deadline)

Following the release of his 2020 album No Dream, Jeff Rosenstock reunited with ska musician/activist Mike Park to reignite their side project, Bruce Lee Band. Sharing the quick-tempoed track “Division In The Heartland,” Bruce Lee Band have officially announced their next batch of songs.

It’s on rare occasion that Bruce Lee Band puts out a project. They’ve only released three so far, the latest being the 2019 EP Rental!! Eviction!!, but their self-titled debut dropped all the way back in 1996. Now, “Division In The Heartland” heralds an eponymous benefit EP with proceeds going to the charity Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate. Alongside the single’s release Park opened up about the ‘anxiety, anger, stress, sadness, [and] hopelessness’ he felt following the murder of several Asian Americans in Atlanta last week:

“When writing the songs for the new BRUCE LEE BAND album I was dealing with anxiety, anger, stress, sadness, hopelessness(still am). And now after being in the fetal position of sadness this past week I again turn to music to bring me out of this rut.

These songs were like therapy for me. A chance to yell and play music with friends during a pandemic was more healing than one could ever imagine. I’m not sorry for being political. But I want healing and unity. Will that ever happen in my lifetime? With all my heart, I hope so.”

Listen to “Division In The Heartland” below..

Division In The Heartland is out 5/28 via Asian Man Records. Pre-order it here.

The Los Angeles squads were quiet in the lead-up to the trade deadline while teams like the Magic and Bulls and Nuggets put together the splashiest moves to begin the day. Still, the two West contenders both were expected to make some moves, as they were both in need of some additional depth at the deadline.

The Lakers spent the day reportedly in talks with the Raptors about Kyle Lowry, in a back-and-forth that reportedly hinged on the inclusion of Talen Horton-Tucker, while the Clippers looked elsewhere in the East for some backcourt assistance. Rajon Rondo, who is plenty familiar with a playoff run for an L.A. team after helping the Lakers to a title, hasn’t played much for the Hawks this season after they inked him to a $9 million deal this offseason, and as such, he was very much available at the deadline.

The Clippers swooped in to nab the veteran guard who they hope can bolster their shaky point guard situation come playoff time, sending Atlanta native Lou Williams back home to the Hawks along with some second round picks, in a deal first reported as nearing the finish line by The Athletic’s Shams Charania and confirmed by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Rondo has not been good for the Hawks this season, even when healthy, but he proved a year ago that regular season performance isn’t exactly indicative of much with what he can bring come playoff time. He is the definition of a 16-game player at this point and that’s what the Clippers are banking on and need more than anything, they’re just hoping he can pull off the same reversal this season. As for the Hawks, they get off of Rondo’s contract, which owed him $7.5 million next year, and bring in Williams who, if he plays for them, adds some scoring punch to the bench. As an added bonus, while Lou had hoped to call it a career in Los Angeles, going back home to Atlanta is the next best thing.

During the early years of his stand-up career, Zach Galifianakis had a very brief stint, which he’s often described as more of a two week trial, as a writer on Saturday Night Live. Despite things not working out and becoming evident very quickly that he just wasn’t a good fit, Galifianakis is still honored that he even had a chance to be in the room and take a crack at the show.

While calling in to Literally! With Rob Lowe, Galifianakis opened up about the two sketches that he actually got to pitch during the week that Britney Spears was scheduled to host. This would’ve been the May 13, 2000 episode, which was smack in the middle of her “Hit Me Baby One More Time” years. At the time, Galifianakis noticed that Britney “showed her belly button a lot,” so he came up with this idea where they’d use a green screen to “shrink” Will Ferrell who would play a security guard inside Britney’s belly button. As Galifianakis tells it, the pitch completely bombed.

“I feel like a tumbleweed went right across the writer’s room table, and a cricket riding it,” Galifianakis told Lowe. However, he got a chance to pitch another sketch directly to Britney, but that one still never saw the light of day.

“You’re being interviewed by Entertainment Tonight. There’s no jokes. And during the middle of the interview you just start bleeding from the mouth,” Galifianakis recalls telling Britney before describing her reaction. “She looks at me, and then she looks at the ground, and then I looked at the ground, and she looks back up at me, I look at her, and she goes, ‘Yeah, that’s funny.’”

Even though Britney said the pitch was funny, Galifianakis could tell by her reaction that there’s no way he should write this sketch and present it to anybody. So, he didn’t, and that was the end of his short time on SNL.

(Via Literally! With Rob Lowe)