Month: March 2021

After years of delivering impressive guest features and solo singles, Los Angeles singer Joyce Wrice has finally graced the world with her debut album. Overgrown arrives with a digestible 14 songs and one of its bright spots comes on a track with Masego. Entitled, “Must Be Nice,” the singers play the role of two lovers who continue to engage in intimate moments despite the fact that their official relationship is a thing of the past. Wrice calls for space in order to “get over you,” while Masego hopes their fling lasts another day as he fears that once it ends, there’ll be no turning back.

Overgrown holds the potential to be one of this year’s better R&B projects thanks to the talent that surrounds Wrice. Throughout the 40-minute effort, listeners will catch guest appearances from Lucky Daye, Freddie Gibbs (“On One“), Westside Gunn, Kaytranada, Devin Morrison, Mndsgn, and Umi. She previously worked with Westside on “French Toast” from his 2020 album, Pray For Paris, while her last collaboration with Morrison arrived on “With You” off his 2018 album, Bussin.

As for Masego, he’s been fairly quiet since he dropped his own debut album, Lady Lady in 2018, but he reappeared at the end of last year to deliver his Studying Abroad EP which is highlighted by his “Mystery Lady” single with Don Toliver.

Listen to the collaboration above.

Overgrown is out now. Get it here.

It’s been two years since Guapdad 4000 has delivered a full-length project to the world, but thankfully, that drought ends today with the release of his 1776 joint album with producer Illmind. The 14-track effort finds Guapdad and his fellow Californian, Buddy, reconnecting for their light collaboration, “PlayStation.” The song is centered on the frustrations of their respective partners, who aren’t too fond of the rappers’ busy schedules. Frequent flights and a tiring hustle are all a part of the formula towards Guapdad and Buddy’s success, but it also proves to be the bane of their love lives.

1776 is lead by executive production from Illmind and arrives after two singles: “How Many” and “She Wanna” with Bay Area native P-Lo. Listeners will also catch a guest appearance from Tish Hyman on the project. Illmind spoke about the project shortly before “How Many” was released. In the message, which he shared on Twitter, he made sure to show some love to Guapdad.

“I’m so proud of Guapdad and I’m proud of myself because we challenged each other,” he said. “That pressure made some diamonds and we can’t wait to show this project to the world. This single is the beginning of what’s to come.”

Listen to the track in the video above.

1176 is out now via 88Rising/TWNSHP. Get it here.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In case you’ve been under a rock for the past few months, Bryson Tiller made his return to the music world and he hasn’t let his foot off the gas since he reappeared. His latest contribution comes in the form of a new remix to Ty Dolla Sign and Jhene Aiko’s “By Yourself” track. On the updated take, Bryson delivers an extra dose of support towards a woman in his life whose independence he admires.

At the end of last month, Bryson arrived with a deluxe reissue of his third album, Anniversary. The re-release saw five additions to the album and a feature from Big Sean, who appeared on “Still Yours” and joined Drake (“Outta Time“) as the only guest acts on the project. The Lousiville singer has also been active on the music video side of things. Since he released Anniversary last October, fans have received visuals for “Always Forever,” “Sorrows,” and “Like Clockwork.” He also updated his supporters on his next body of work, Serenity, which is set to be a versatile three-volume project.

The “Be Yourself” remix is the second remix of a Featuring Ty Dolla Sign that has dropped since the album was released. He previously called on YG, J Balvin, and Tyga to join him and Post Malone for a multilingual update to “Spicy.” Prior to that, Ty joined Tiesto for “The Business, Pt. II” and covered Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Listen to the remix in the video above.

Anniversary (Deluxe) is out now via RCA. Get it here.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last month, Justin Bieber celebrated the one-year anniversary of his fifth album, Changes. Just a month after that date, the singer is already back with his sixth effort in Justice. His second body of work in just 13 months seemingly makes up for the more than four-year hiatus that fans endured after he released Purpose back in 2015. A clear standout from Bieber’s new album comes on “Peaches” with Giveon and Daniel Caesar.

Here, Bieber delivers a sweet tune about the sweetest things his life has been blessed with. With help from Giveon and Caesar, the trio brags about the natural existence of their blessings, especially in regards to their love lives. Bieber also delivered a vibrant video for the song that sees the three singers riding around town as they sing about their well-established relationships.

While the song appears on the newly-released album, Bieber premiered it on his NPR Tiny Desk set earlier this week. The performance was met with positive reviews and built additional excitement towards the new project. Justice presents sixteen tracks with contributions from Khalid, The Kid Laroi, Dominic Fike, Beam, Burna Boy, and more for listeners to enjoy. The album was promoted with a total of four singles: “Holy” with Chance The Rapper, “Hold On,” “Anyone,” and “Lonely.”

Bieber also faces some legal drama over the new album as the band Justice recently filed a cease-and-desist order for the release after they claim the singer stole their logo.

Watch the “Peaches” video above.

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

While the live action versions of Avatar: The Last Airbender have largely disappointed and seen turmoil in various forms, the animated version of the Nickelodeon show is beloved years after it and its follow-up The Legend Of Korra have left the air.

Both Avatar and Korra remain popular years after their runs ended on the children’s cable giant. The two hitting Netflix, for example, saw the titles atop the platform’s most-watched shows for weeks last summer. Which is why news that an animated film and more series are in the works is sure to make a lot of bending fans very happy.

Deadline reported on Thursday that new series and films in the “Avatar Airbender universe” are on the way, and likely coming to Nickelodeon once they’re fully fleshed out.

In an interview with Deadline tied to the Nickelodeon upfront presentation, the network president Brian Robbins lifted the veil a bit on the plans for the franchise beyond the first feature announced at the ViacomCBS Streaming Event presentation.

“We are in the early stages of developing and exploring what we are calling an entire Avatar Airbender universe,” he said. “Mike and Bryan are hard at work, and I think that universe will encompass definitely a theatrical film, animation, certainly multiple TV series and probably multiple films. I think we will be ready very soon to tell the world what is coming first but we are not there yet because we’re in early stages of creative development.”

That’s certainly good news considering how well The Legend of Korra stood up to the original series in quality while also expanding the show’s universe significantly. And while that sounds like a whole lot of, well, content, the show has proven it can tell a multitude of stories over several different eras and generations in the show’s larger universe.

One potential downside to all this news, though, is that the animated versions seem destined for streaming services other than Netflix. While that’s where the live-action Avatar series will be, according to the report Robbins hinted that the animated content is likely to roll out on platforms like Paramount+ and the more traditional Nickelodeon cable channel.

For the most part, the first half of Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament game went very well for the Michigan State Spartans in their First Four matchup against the UCLA Bruins. However, the actions of head coach Tom Izzo just before his team went into the locker room at halftime drew a great deal of negative attention. Izzo and junior forward Gabe Brown exchanged words after the halftime buzzer, and the back and forth was caught on video, even as the two men moved into the tunnel.

Izzo was seen grabbing Brown by the elbow and then Brown’s jersey and, after Brown walked away, the heated exchange continued when Izzo seemingly chased him down. The back and forth came after a possession in which Michigan State allowed a basket to UCLA just before the buzzer. While this kind of scene would’ve been jarring to see in the midst of a game under any circumstances, Izzo also has a history with similar actions.

During the last NCAA Tournament, held in 2019, Izzo had to be restrained by his own players in going after then-freshman wing Aaron Henry. Henry is still on the team in 2021, and that incident happened during a timeout, rather than on the way to the locker room.

It will be interesting to see what both Izzo and Brown have to say about what transpired once the game ends. At a minimum, though, Izzo seemingly went overboard in chastising Brown and, since it isn’t the first instance, it would be tough to simply wave this away as a one-time thing.

The 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament began on Thursday with First Four action in the Indianapolis area, with the first round starting on Friday. In San Antonio, teams in the Women’s Tournament began practicing after clearing their quarantines, and the stark contrast in the funding for the two bubble championships were put on full display.

A photo comparison of the men’s weight room in Indy and the women’s “weight room” in San Antonio — which included a small set of dumbbells and a few yoga mats — went viral and many WNBA stars called out how ridiculous the lack of investment was for the women’s game and how blatant it was. The NCAA would eventually release a statement, insisting that the issue was a lack of space in San Antonio compared to Indy, but that they would make the effort to fix the situation.

After hearing that excuse, Oregon player Sedona Prince posted a video to TikTok and later Twitter that proved how absurd that excuse was, showing the massive amount of empty, unused space is in the same spot as the “weight room” provided to teams by the practice court.

It’s clear that the NCAA and tournament organizers didn’t want to invest in gym equipment for the Women’s Tournament in the same manner as the men, and thought no one would notice or complain when they were provided with almost nothing for weight training. When they were called out for it, they scrambled to a space excuse that clearly falls short, and if it were possible to look worse after this morning, they’ve managed to do it.

Getting caught on a live mic or camera when you’re not expecting is every media person’s worst nightmare, and that reality came to pass for Sean Hannity on Thursday night. The Fox News commentator seemingly missed his cues about coming back from commercial break, and when cameras rejoined his show, he was wearing glasses and sucking on a vape pen. Hannity isn’t even looking at the camera, he’s looking down at something in his lap, likely his phone.

You can actually hear someone quietly saying “Sean, Sean” to, you know, tell him he’s supposed to be on camera. And while it takes a few seconds, he eventually looks up. Startled, and rips the pen out of his mouth and turns to face the camera. Looking shocked, he tries to regain his composure but could only say what was on his mind.

“Uh oh,” he said before trying to pivot back to whatever he’s actually supposed to be doing on camera. The show continues, with Laura Ingraham giving him a hard time for the flub as they hand off the live broadcast. But the real reactions were had on Twitter, where the video quickly made the rounds.

Cutting right at the “uh oh” really sells this one.

It’s not in Carl Lewis “uh oh” territory just yet, but it’s certainly one of the more relatable things Hannity has ever done.

The Magic and Knicks played a basketball game on Thursday and everyone expected some throwback basketball. These are two defensively minded teams with coaches in Steve Clifford and Tom Thibodeau that would rather win a game in the high 80’s than the low 120’s. However, while the Knicks philosophy has gotten them in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Magic have spent most of this year in the cellar. A mix of injuries and poor play have doomed Orlando to eight straight losses entering the evening.

Much of the contest was a slow grind, with the Knicks leading by as many as 17, but offenses came alive in the fourth quarter with both teams trading blows as Orlando had managed to even take a brief lead in the final period. With just over 30 seconds left, the Knicks were ahead by four, and their usually solid inbound defense failed them as Evan Fournier, who led Orlando with 23 points, escaped for an open three-pointer to cut it to within one.

This is when the game got weird. The Knicks inbounded the ball up court to Reggie Bullock and the Magic immediately trapped him. He briefly split the trap, but he lost control of the ball just long enough for Fournier to tie him up with the ball. The ref came in and called a jump ball to an irate Bullock. On the jump itself, Bullock mistimed his jump, jumping too early on a high toss, giving Fournier an easy tap back to an awaiting Nikola Vucevic. After bringing the ball across halfcourt, the Magic called timeout to draw up a play to win, down one with over 10 seconds to play.

What followed was an absolute disaster. The Magic got the ball in to Fournier and Vucevic came over to set a screen. Gibson hedged as Bullock recovered and Fournier attempted a jump pass back to Vucevic. Bullock jumped up and stole it, and as the Knicks ran the other direction — with a solid five seconds left on the clock — Fournier quizzically put his hands on his head instead of choosing to foul to keep hopes of OT alive as New York dribbled out the win.

This is now nine straight losses for the Magic and the last two have come in heartbreaking fashion. To make matters worse they were both on self-inflicted wounds late in the game. It’s one thing for the other team to just outplay them, but their own mistakes led to this, an awful loss for Orlando and a great escape for New York to keep pace in the East playoff race.

Thursday marked exactly one year since J Balvin released his fourth album, Colores. The ten-track effort was a mostly solo effort from the Latin star, outside of a long appearance from Mr. Eazi on “Arcoiris,” and it eventually took home a 2020 Latin Grammy for Best Urban Album. J Balvin isn’t relishing in the success of that album for too long as the singer is already preparing his next body of work, one that would make it four straight years where he shared a new album with his fans.

While his next project remains untitled, J Balvin gifts his supporters with his second single in less than a month thanks to “Tu Veneno.” The new release is quite the focused effort as its accompanying video finds the singer leading a charge with help from a small group that surrounds him.

“Tu Veneno” arrives after he released “Ma G” before Canelo Alvarez and Avni Yildrim’s fight at the end of last month. Both songs are set to appear on his upcoming project. While these are certainly all high moments for J Balvin, a scary moment in 2020 came when he contracted a bad case of coronavirus. Luckily, he was able to weather the symptoms and recover in time for a partnership with McDonald’s in the fall.

If you look for more recent releases from the Latin singer, check out his “Un Dia (One Day)” collaboration with Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and Tainy, which was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at this year’s Grammy Awards.

You can watch the new video above.