Month: April 2021

It’s not everyday that three of the most popular women in the music industry are seen hanging out together, and when it does happen, it’s fair to speculate that they’re working on a project. That’s exactly what happened this week when Lizzo, SZA, and Kehlani were spotted together all over social media, and fans hope it means that a joint single is on its way.

The three musicians were seen out on the town by paparazzi Wednesday night. They were captured hand-in-hand in West Hollywood leaving a restaurant together. After the paparazzi photos circulated, Lizzo, SZA, and Kehlani got together to film a playful TikTok poking fun at men who try to take salacious selfies.

Shortly after the TikTok was posted to Lizzo’s account, Kehlani shared a selfie of the trio to her Instagram Stories.

Once fans caught wind that the three musicians were spending time together, many began to speculate that a joint project could very well be in the works.

While this may be the first time the three were captured hanging out together, SZA and Lizzo are already good friends. Earlier this week, Lizzo shared an unedited nude selfie to Instagram in order to change “the conversation about beauty standards.” SZA was quick to commend Lizzo for the photo in the comment section, writing: “It’s you having no blemishes at ALL lol .. sigh I jus admire u Fren.”

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

Joel Embiid has been a dominant force ever since he stepped foot on the NBA court, but this season he’s taken another step into the MVP conversation by consistently and routinely putting up monster performances for the top team in the Eastern Conference. The MVP race this season starts with Nikola Jokic, who has been unreal for the Nuggets, but for many it is rounding into a race between he and Joel Embiid, with Stephen Curry making his own push as well.

Embiid is posting career-best scoring figures, with 30.3 points per game on 51.5 percent shooting, including 38.7 percent from three-point range, along with 11.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game. His two-way play is the biggest argument people make for him against Jokic, as he’s producing offensively with similar scoring to Denver’s star big man while adding elite defense on the other end. That’s the argument Embiid makes himself, likening his season to that of Giannis Antetokounmpo the last two seasons, telling Shams Charania that he has “no doubt” he’s the MVP.

It should come as little surprise that Embiid is making his MVP pitch, as Curry recently did the same. As Embiid notes, it all starts with doing it on a top team, as he knows individual accolades are always tied, in some way, to team performance as well. What is working against Embiid maybe more than anything else is that he’s missed 18 games, where Jokic has played in every game this season while having the impact he’s had on keeping the Nuggets in the top-4 of the West.

Still, there’s a few more weeks for everyone in the MVP race to put the finishing touches on their campaigns, and while saying you’re “no doubt” the MVP or “I gotta be” the MVP, as Embiid and Curry have, what they do down the stretch on the floor will be far more impactful in possibly swaying voters to their side.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) really does not know what to do with herself after being stripped from committee duty. She appears to have grown entirely obsessed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who Greene (the prolific troll that she is) has pestered for over a week about wanting to “debate” her polar-congressional opposite over the Green New Deal. The situation grew quite humorous when Greene started tweeting like crazy at AOC, including proposed venue rules and how the “people” demand that they meet, head-to-head, for educational purposes. AOC, who is very good at Twitter, knows when to hold ’em and fold ’em and (most importantly) ignore ’em, which is exactly how she dealt with Greene.

Well, Greene was not deterred. She committed a massive self-own on Wednesday night by admitting that she hasn’t even read a 14-page bill, which is rather amazing because that’s the bare minimum preparation that MTG should have done before even suggesting a debate. Also, it actually isn’t unusual for bills to run from 800 pages to a few thousand of them, so… is MTG is reading any bills at all before voting? It’s a fair question. More to the point, though, and as a brief refresher, Greene posted a photo (which could have been taken on any day) of herself and AOC while claiming, “I’m glad I ran into you today @AOC to plan our debate about the Green New Deal.” She added, “After I finish reading all 14 pages, like we agreed, I’ll schedule time for our debate.”

Aaaaand still, AOC (who darn well must know that she’s being repeatedly tagged by Greene) kept on ignoring like a pro. Fast forward to morning, and Greene announced to the world (and AOC) that she finally read the Green New Deal, and she’s now totally ready for their “debate.” Does Greene realize at this point that this debate is non-existent, or has she trolled herself, too? She also made a point to say, “I read your 14 page Communists manifesto @AOC… Looking forward to debating you.”

As with last time, it’s hard to watch this without feeling torn. One one note, AOC does not hesitate to debate rivals on Twitter, but she has deemed Greene of being unworthy of response. And who could blame her? Greene doesn’t listen to logic, she’s pretty much the embodiment of a certain Faulkner book title… sound and fury and a reputation that’s so embarrassing that Crossfit disavowed her. These days, Greene mostly has her conspiracy theories to keep her company, which appears to be good enough for her.

Thanks to his latest gaslighting press conference, one of Ted Cruz‘s more brutal nicknames has resurfaced and is already trending on Twitter. While standing outside of the Capitol on Thursday morning, Cruz bemoaned reported efforts by Democrats to expand the Supreme Court, which he actually tried to claim with a straight face that manipulating the court is something that Republicans would never do. (They have. Several times.) “You didn’t see Republicans when we had control of the Senate try to rig the game,” Cruz told reporters. “You didn’t see us try to pack the court.”

Not one to miss a golden opportunity to dunk on Cruz, political consultant Rick Wilson blasted the Republican senator’s hypocrisy with a Marvel-themed insult: “Fat Wolverine doesn’t understand that reality has all the receipts.”

While Wilson has trotted out “Fat Wolverine” before, we’re in a golden age of watching Cruz get dragged, so people were particularly on board with the X-Men barb and quickly made it trend.

As for the receipts that Wilson speaks of, here are just a few examples of Republicans gaming the Supreme Court nomination process over the years. Via The Daily Beast:

Cruz and other Republican senators, of course, held up then-President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland for nearly a year in hopes to carry it over to a Republican administration. (This ultimately resulted in Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation in 2017.) At the same time, Republicans ignored their own precedent of confirming election-year Supreme Court justices when they rammed through Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination just a week before the 2020 election.

In fact, Cruz personally threatened to block any nominations to the ninth seat (that ultimately went to Gorsuch) if Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election, so maybe Cruz should put his claws back in on this one.

(Via Rick Wilson on Twitter)

On Tuesday afternoon, a jury in Minneapolis handed down a guilty verdict on all three charges — second degree murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter — faced by former police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd last year. It was a rare murder conviction for a police officer and many hoped it would lead to more accountability for officers who use excessive and at times lethal force, so often with Black citizens.

However, anyone under the impression the Chauvin conviction was going to create some immediate, widespread change was quickly reminded of reality when hours later a Columbus, Ohio police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant. The body cam footage showed Bryant holding a knife while in an altercation with someone when officer Nicholas Reardon fired four shots and killed the 16-year-old girl. On Wednesday, when that footage came out, LeBron James tweeted a photo of Reardon with the caption “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY.” While the accountability hashtag should’ve made clear that he was speaking of Reardon also facing trial and being found guilty of murder, many on the right used his tweet to claim he was calling for violence.

Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Sean Hannity, Lauren Boebert, and countless others went after James, who later deleted the tweet and explained his anger and frustration, while also making clear that he was speaking of the officer being held accountable for killing someone and not advocating for violence.

James’ propensity for speaking out on social issues has made him a regular target of the right, who famously want him to “stick to sports.” That his initial tweet be misconstrued by bad-faith actors comes as little surprise and James seemed to recognize that wasn’t going to stop, so he took down the tweet and offered a more thorough explanation that this remains a systemic issue and that accountability is necessary but moreso is change systemically to prevent these killings in the first place.

Chvrches are fresh off the release of “He Said She Said,” which appears to be the start of a new era for the group, although a new album has yet to be officially announced. Now they’ve return with a new visual for the track.

The video, directed by artist Scott Kiernan, features glitched-out visuals of the band, a dramatically lit revolving door, and other striking images. The band says of making the clip, “Working with Scott has been really exciting as we share a visual viewpoint. He really understood and elevated our references. We found out about his work through a short film he made for Moog and were just obsessed with his aesthetic and way of telling stories. He has creative directed everything for this new era of the band and we can’t wait for Chvrches fans to see the story unfold…”

Kiernan also noted, “The revolving door is metaphorical to the circular nature of a manipulative power dynamic, and the looping thoughts that go along with feeling trapped in it. But this door also represents a film developing tank here: it creates ‘a picture’ through agitation. That agitation can be malevolent, by some controlling, dominating force as in an abusive relationship, or it can be that of a protest — a positive force to reclaim one’s agency.”

Lauren Mayberry previously said of the track, “‘He Said She Said’ is my way of reckoning with things I’ve accepted that I know I shouldn’t have. Things I pretended weren’t damaging to me. It was the first song we wrote when we started back up, and the opening line (‘He said, you bore me to death’) was the first lyric that came out. All the verse lines are tongue-in-cheek or paraphrased versions of things that have actually been said to me by men in my life. Being a woman is f*cking exhausting and it felt better to scream it into a pop song than scream it into the void.”

Watch the “He Said She Said” video above.

Two of California’s most prolific gangsta rap purveyors connect in the video for “Bompton To Oak Park,” as Sacramento’s Mozzy invites Compton’s YG up north for a good, old-fashion gangsta party. Throughout the video, the two rappers proudly rock their colors and throw their respective signs, while rhyming about the virtues and vices of street life in the Golden State.

As yet, “Bompton To Oak Park” doesn’t have an official full-length release attached, but the video for the track has been hotly anticipated among locals since they were glimpsed shooting scenes for it in Mozzy’s hometown. The song marks their eighth collaboration, the most recent ones landing on the two rappers’ respective 2018 releases. First, Mozzy appeared on YG’s Stay Dangerous track “Too Brazy,” then, YG returned the favor on “Thugz Mansion” from Mozzy’s Gangland Landlord.

The two rappers have been busy individually since then, with Mozzy dropping three albums: 2019’s Internal Affairs, and two albums in 2020, Beyond Bulletproof and Occupational Hazard. Mozzy promoted the latter with the single “Death Is Callin.”

Meanwhile, YG completed the terms of his deal with 2019’s 4Real 4Real and 2020’s My Life 4Hunnid, launching his 4Hunnid Records venture with Epic Records and releasing the first compilation, Gang Affiliated, in March this year.

Watch YG and Mozzy’s ‘Bompton To Oak Park’ video above.

It’s been nearly six months since Cordae last graced fans with new music, but that all changed Thursday with the release of his four-track EP Just Until, which is meant to hold fans over until his next album’s release. To celebrate the EP’s debut, Cordae went back to his hometown to go to some of the places that shaped his youth in a video to his Q-Tip-featuring track “More Life.”

Throughout the “More Life” visual, Cordae takes a tour of his old neighborhood. He revisits his former apartment and walks through the halls of his old middle school and college, which he dropped out of. All the while, Cordae runs into grateful fans, snaps a few photos, reminisces on the days of his youth, and offers words of advice for staying true to yourself and following your dreams.

The visual concluded with Cordae receiving some wise words from Q-Tip over the phone. “I get the light from you, you get the light from me, we give it to each other and we give it to the world. That’s what it’s supposed to be,” Q-Tip says, to which Cordae replies, “Yeah, that’s some bars.”

Watch Cordae’s “More Life” video above.

Just Until is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.

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

Cardi B getting criticism from high-profile Republicans is a regular occurrence, and Cardi tends to laugh these sorts of things off. This morning, Republican Representative Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin complained about Cardi on the House floor, and it turns out Cardi is actually pretty upset about it.

Today, Cardi responded to a journalist soliciting emails from people who have contacted congressmen about Cardi, tweeting, “Smh! THERES PEOPLE DYING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She then addressed the Grothman video directly, writing, “This gets me so mad ya don’t even know! I think we all been on the edge this week since we seen police brutality back to back including watching one of the biggest case in history go down DUE to police brutality but wait ! This is wat state representative decide to talk about.”

A fan then chimed in, “its honestly just so weird!! they want a ‘America to be Great Again’ but look what they’re talking about a fcking grammy performance that happened a month ago!! But not bringing the attention where its supposed to be brought TO THESE RECENT POLICE BRUTALITY INCIDENTS!!!” Cardi added, “Mind you N****s can’t give a word about Jacob Blake or give him proper Justice but this part of the reason why !!!!! They giving seats to F*CKIN IDIOTS!!This is why people gotta vote ,elect better people cause you got these dum asses representing states .”

Meanwhile, it appears Cardi may become the latest artist to launch her own beauty brand.

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

Thursday marks Earth Day 2021 and, true to their name, rap duo Earthgang are aiming to make the planet a little healthier. That’s why they’ve teamed up with Atlanta’s Young Middle School to launch a fundraising to build a community food garden at the school.

Earthgang created the initiative on GoFundMe, noting that students at the Young Middle School “reported food insecurity to be one of the biggest barriers to their success in a 2019 student survey.” The fundraiser has a monetary goal of $200,000, and it’s already raised over $10,000. The GoFundMe description states, “Earthgang hopes to inspire healthy eating and activity, lifelong learning and address food insecurity in the community by restoring a plot of donated land and establishing a robust community garden that will seek to strengthen the local community and provide learning to Young Middle School students and their families.”

Earthgang’s Olu offered a reason behind their charitable project, saying they hope the garden will impact children for years to come. “It’s nearly impossible to focus on education, mental health and financial stability when you don’t have the basic necessities of proper food, shelter and protection,” he said. “This project is a gift to future generations.”

WowGr8 echoed Olu’s statement, saying, “Sustainable living grows more important with each new generation. Promoting agriculture to youth is essential for changing the scope of what our community considers acceptable nourishment.”

Young Middle School’s Principal Ronald Garlington thanked the rap duo for their support in a statement. “Young Middle School is grateful to Earthgang for their commitment to making the Young Middle School Community Garden a reality,” Garlington said. “Via this garden, students will be provided hands-on learning and problem-solving opportunities, increased environmental awareness and frequent occasions to build strong connections to their community!”

Check out the Young Middle School community garden GoFundMe page here.