Month: May 2021

Texas has been experiencing a big moment lately. While Megan Thee Stallion has become a household name, a number of Lone Star State’s rappers have been bubbling up from its expansive underground scene. While Dallas’ Erica Banks is swiftly following in Meg’s footsteps thanks to the viral “Buss It” challenge utilizing her breakout single, another Texas rapper has been building a buzz with the support of local impresario BeatKing and a string of impressive freestyles and self-released bangers. Big Jade, who previously released the eye-catching “Dem Girlz” video featuring Erica Banks, dropped her debut album Pressure today, and it’s well worth giving it a spin (or a stream, I guess).

If you’ve been following Uproxx’s “Best New Hip-Hop This Week” column throughout the year, it’s probable you’ve seen one of Jade’s freestyles or singles, which include “Gucci Bag,” “Bonnet Freestyle,” “No Hook,” and “Groupies.” Like her fellow Texans, Jade raps with a boisterous, drawling swagger that taps into the long lineage of longhorn rappers from Houston, which is about 90 miles away from her hometown, Beaumont.

On Pressure she employs that sharp, incisive flow to display her equally pointed wit over speaker slamming production by BeatKing and sharing her spotlight with more Texas stalwarts such as OMB Bloodbath and Queendom Come. You should definitely take some time to familiarize yourself; Big Jade is in a prime position to become the latest star from the state where everything is bigger.

Pressure is out now via Alamo Records. Listen below.

When the Red Band trailer for The Suicide Squad hit back in March, King Shark was an immediate hit with fans even while sharing the screen with the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, John Cena’s Peacemaker, and Idris Elba’s Bloodsport. Of course, after delivering two smash hits with the Guardians of the Galaxy films, writer/director James Gunn has a pretty good idea what audiences like, which is why he knew from the jump that King Shark had to be the first addition to his roster of supervillain anti-heroes when he signed on to the reboot/sequel.

“Who doesn’t want to see a fish eat a lot of people that somehow people think is inexplicably cute?” Gunn laughingly explained to Den of Geek while breaking down why he wanted King Shark in the film. “I knew that I wanted to use an animal, and I knew that King Shark was a member of the Squad in the newer comics,” Gunn says. “I liked the concept of that character. So King Shark [was my first addition].”

Shortly after the Red Band trailer rocked DC Comics fan, Gunn revealed that Sylvester Stallone is the voice of the lovable, yet people-eating shark, and he had wrote the part specifically for the Rocky star. “I knew Sly, and I know him pretty well. So I wrote the role of King Shark with his voice in mind,” Gunn told Den of Geek.

As for the decision to alter King Shark’s look from the comics, Gunn tweeted back in March that he tried using the hammerhead design, but it looked terrible on camera, especially when interacting with other characters. “You couldn’t really see him looking at the other person & the shots tended to be too wide,” he wrote. “But I was insistent on the dad-bod from the beginning as I didn’t think King Shark would have such mammalian body structure.”

(Via Den of Geek)

Breanna Stewart is the latest high-profile addition to Puma’s roster. It was announced on Wednesday morning that the Seattle Storm ace, a longtime Nike athlete, will make the jump ahead of the 2021 WNBA season. And as an added twist, Puma announced that Stewart will become the 10th player in WNBA history to get her own signature sneaker.

“I am proud to join the PUMA family,” Stewart in a statement. “We share a vision to grow the sport and welcome everyone – specifically women and girls – globally. The genuine investment PUMA has shown to collaborate with and activate around women, including the commitment to a signature performance shoe, is something that I hope serves to raise the expectations and standards of the generations of basketball players who follow me.”

Details are still extremely scarce about Stewart’s signature kicks — they don’t have a name, and as Nick DePaula of noted, the process of putting together a design can take a year or more. But she did explain to DePaula what she will want to be incorporated in the sneakers.

“[It is] definitely going to be a low top,” Stewart said. “Going to have cushion for the Achilles, and all the people in the Achilles family. Then, I was thinking, ‘Oh, maybe I can make it eco-friendly.’ … It’s going to be exciting. I think that cool colorways are definitely going to come. Something where you can rock it on and off the court.”

Perhaps the most decorated young basketball player in the world, Stewart has won basically everything there is to win during her collegiate and professional careers. Most recently, Stewart was named an All-WNBA first-team selection and lifted the WNBA Finals MVP award as the Storm won the title last year.

Emily Blunt’s gearing up for A Quiet Place 2 to finally hit theaters on May 28. The final trailer for the movie recently dropped, and I remain impressed at how her character’s still wearing the same floral-patterned dress that she wore to give birth in during the first movie. That’s not simply a refusal to raid a sportswear store — it’s a constant reminder that she endured great discomfort while remaining utterly silent (f*ck that, says every mom out there), which makes her a bit of a superhero. As far as actually portraying a superhero, though, Blunt’s not so much into that. In fact, she’s not going there at all.

Of course, it’s common knowledge that Blunt was Jon Favreau’s first choice for Black Widow in Iron Man 2, and obviously, Scarlett Johansson went on to make the character her own, even if it’s taken a decade of movies for Natasha Romanoff to finally get a solo ride (and after sacrificing herself for the Soul Stone). Yet Emily wants everyone to know (while speaking with Howard Stern) that she very much wanted to act alongside Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark at the time, but it simply wasn’t in the cards (she clarifies here that her Gulliver’s Travels role mucked up the schedule). These days, she’s reflected upon the subject and decided nope, she almost definitely wouldn’t take such a role now. Naturally, Howard tried to bait her, as he does:

“Are you too good of an actress to really take that role seriously?” Howard wondered. “Maybe the whole genre of superhero movies is beneath you.”

“It’s not that it’s beneath me,” she responded. “I love Iron Man and when I got offered Black Widow I was obsessed with Iron Man. I wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr. — it would’ve been amazing… but I don’t know if superhero movies are for me. They’re not up my alley. I don’t like them. I really don’t.”

Emily went on to shut down those rumors that she’s in consideration for portraying Sue Storm in a Fantastic Four reboot from Marvel. “That is fan-casting. No one has received a phone call,” Blunt insisted. “That’s just people saying, ‘Wouldn’t that be great?’” So there you have it. Emily’s not interested in Fantastic Four, either, because she admits feeling “exhausted” and inundated” with superhero material on film and TV. “It’s not to say that I’d never want to play one, it would just have to be something so cool and like a really cool character, and then I’d be interested,” Blunt added. So, will see Emily Blunt as Mephisto? (I’ll see myself out here.)

(Via HowardStern.com)

Rick Rossovich had a run of movies in the ’80s, which really stood out in the last year when he kept popping up in so many movies we happened to watch over the last year when there wasn’t much to do other than watch movies. James Cameron’s The Terminator, Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire, Sidney Lumet’s The Morning After, Roxanne, Navy SEALs … but, yes, there’s one movie that he’s in that dominates the pop culture discussion and that’s Top Gun, which is celebrating it’s 35th anniversary and we will (finally) be seeing its long-awaited sequel later this year. But, will Rossovich’s Slider be back?

Slider was, of course, Iceman’s (Val Kilmer) radar intercept officer who, along with Iceman, thought Tom Cruise’s Maverick was a reckless punk. (They were correct.) And Rick Rossovich has a ton of stories about Top Gun. From Tom Cruise wanting to be “a stud,” to Val Kilmer having a tendency for being a “pain in the neck.” And, of course, there’s the famous/infamous volleyball scene, which featured Cruise, Kilmer, Rossovich, and Anthony Edwards all trying to out-muscle each other. As for if Slider is back in Top Gun: Maverick, it sounds like Rossovich may not be the best at keeping secrets…

You showed up in a lot of movies I’ve watched over the last year.

Those were the days. I pulled back a little bit about 15 years ago. And I just went into my garden and my home life and working on buildings and homes and being in Sweden. And so, I had a good run for about 25 years in the business and made a lot of relationships, had a lot of fun. But you know what? I had a great life and I had a great career, a bunch of fun things. And when I do come back, it is kind of heartening to know that I’m still kind of kicking around somewhere,

Not many actors get to be in the number of successful movies you were in. You had quite a run.

It was good to be in the number one box office film in 1986, and then a decade later, being the number one television show in the country, ER. It really swept the world. And that was a real ride too, being on ER. But Top Gun really stands out, because it’s got this hold on the popular culture. And it feels good, I got to tell you. There’s no downside with Top Gun for me. It’s a beautiful thing.

Did you anticipate that? It’s hold on popular culture?

No. I made a movie before that for Paramount called Lords of Discipline. And it came out and it was a box office disappointment. So that kind of tempered me a little bit, don’t get too far ahead of yourself. But when we’re making the movie, we had so much fun, that you couldn’t help but feel like this could catch on.

As I’ve gotten older I side more with Iceman and Slider that Maverick is dangerous.

And I think that’s one of the strengths of the movie, that it has all those dynamics that keep coming at you. And most of the characterization, it runs pretty straight through, and Tom really did a great job. I take my hat off to him. And Val, for all the pain in the neck he wanted to be – and the Julliard brilliant student, and the bonafide actor – he really delivered, too. And all that kind of stuff just kind of crept in just by osmosis. And me, being the guy on the side, the wingman, I took that to heart. And I just wedged myself wherever I could and I made my presence known. It was a fun challenge.

What do you mean by the pain in the neck part?

Val?

I mean, I get it generally with stories I’ve heard and from what Val has even said, but just more what do you mean by that?

He’s my son’s godfather. I love him like a brother. And we had a party for Top Secret the night that it opened on Hollywood Boulevard at our house up in our backyard in the Hollywood Hills. My wife and I had a nice little place there. And there were 12 of us and we walked from our house to Hollywood Boulevard. We watched the movie, and I think we were a little drunk. Weren’t we hon?

[Eva Rossovich chimes in from the background, “We were drunk.”]

We were drunk. And Val was kind of deflated. That was a good movie. He did a great job in that movie. He was great. He’s a prima donna, but deservedly so.
In our generation, arguably, he’s one of the best. He’s one of the finest actors that our generation produced really. He’s done some just brilliant work.

Oh, I agree.

And, so, I love that guy. I love him. But he could wrinkle his nose. I’m more of a yeoman. I’m the guy that just packs a pail. And I go to work and I get it done. I mean, he sat in my kitchen and did Hamlet for 20 minutes. I had to slam something down and say, “Shut up! You’re driving me crazy now!” He was trying to learn lines for the play. But he’s brilliant. He’s a brilliant thing. And that kind of transcended the film in a way, in the relationship. And Val and Tom, they kept that relationship kind of at an arm’s length kind of deal. And kind of a tit for tat, a little bit. Kind of like a competition kind of thing. Tom stayed to himself a little bit, and we all partied like hell, the rest of us.

I am curious about the volleyball match. When that was coming up for shooting, were you ready for that? Or did you have to do some pushups?

I knew I had to kick everybody’s ass. I knew I had kicked everybody’s ass all the way down the line. I got the role, and then Paramount said, “Well, this character, he’s like the hulking guy that’s just like a monster in a way. You’ve got to beef up.” I said, “I’ll be beefed up. I have 10 weeks. Give me time.” And I went to Power Gym in West Hollywood and I worked out. I always was a bodybuilder from day one. I idolized Arnold Schwarzenegger and I worked with him on Terminator and we did a couple of other things down the road. So I was kind of into the body scene. It was kind of on the verge of everyone’s a bodybuilder back then. By the mid to the late ’80s, everyone was a tough guy with a bunch of biceps.

Of course, Tom wants to be a stud. Tom is a stud. This is where I had Val. I had Val on the ropes on this. And I’ve got to tell you, there’s one funny scene, and I always pick on him about it, because he always liked to pick on me on things, too. But in the steam shower scene, okay? Check that scene out. With Val kind of with his back up against the steam room wall and like a cat scratching his back on a post or something. It’s so endearing in a way, but it’s so Val. I knew that the volleyball scene was going to be fun, and it was fun. It was half a day. It’s kind of an afterthought when you shoot something like that, you just have fun and set the camera up, and everyone just runs at it. You know?

But you didn’t know “Playing With The Boys” by Kenny Loggins would be playing over the whole scene, where it comes it becomes a rock video.

I knew there’d be a song, but that’s the whole thing about Top Gun, the music. I mean, Berlin doing “Take My Breath Away.” And Kenny doing “Danger Zone.” And Giorgio Moroder, writing this music. And even all the old classics that are peppered in the movie. The music really drove. And Harold Faltermeyer, who did the original score, he’s back for the next installment too, I think. So that really helped drive the movie that summer. It was just on the airwaves all the time.

Did they approach you about the new one? Are you in it? I really have no idea.

I kind of visited the set one day and kind of maybe slipped into a scene. But maybe, I don’t know, I can’t talk about it. But here’s the deal: Tom’s going to deliver.

I bet.

It’s going to be great. I mean, it’s been gestating for 30 plus years. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to do nothing but make the original kind of feel like … you know what? I love that old Porsche. I love the new one. Let’s just get out and drive. You know?

I can’t wait for this new one.

It’s coming out at the perfect time. I told Tom when I saw him last, “You know what? A movie like this can really heal America.” Because when they were making the film, America is kind of mixed up and kind of everyone at each other’s necks and blah, blah, blah, whatever side you’re dealing with. But you know what, I said, “Tom, this is the kind of movie that can heal America.” And he looked at me kind of quizzically and said, “Well, I’m not really …” He’s not a political at all, Tom. Tom is just, he’s a filmmaker. He’s a guy who just makes his way and makes a beautiful product to entertain us. And he’s done it for all these years. And I take my hat off to him. So I really think Top Gun: Maverick is really the best of America.
It’s funny, I read once that the Japanese academy gave Top Gun best foreign film of the year, that year.

I finally watched Streets of Fire for the first time recently. What on earth is that? I’ve never seen anything quite like that.

I made that in between Lords of Discipline and Top Gun, and Walter Hill directed. We shot day and night. So we were under a tent, six stories high, for months. And it was just this rock and roll, great cast, great people, Willem Defoe, Rick Moranis…

Yeah, everyone’s in it.

Diane Lane, Michael Paré, just a bunch of great actors, a bunch of great music. Why wasn’t that the biggest movie of the year? I don’t know. Bill Paxton! me… yeah. Well-made, well-made. They spent a fortune on it. I think it was $35 million back in the day, and that was a huge sum. And I was happy to be a part of it. I played a sniveling kind of cop, who was like a sniveling, little weakling. It was fun. We had fun.

There is no movie like that movie. That is a 100 percent a one-of-a-kind gem.

It really is. I’m glad you brought up all these old ghosts. It’s a lot of fun.

I even watched The Morning After recently. Like I said, you’ve popped up a lot.

Oh, you have? I met Jane Fonda, Raul Julia. Imagine, I got to be on a set with Sidney Lumet and Jane Fonda. That’s what I think about when I think of my career, those people I got to be around.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The 2021 Brit Awards took place in-person Tuesday night, which saw performances by many stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Griff, Arlo Parks, Elton John, and, of course, Dua Lipa. Lipa pulled off some impressive moves throughout her showstopping performance, which featured several songs off her 2020 Future Nostalgia album.

The performance kicked off with the singer boarding the London Tube and dancing through a train car. The lights went off, and Lipa was suddenly transported to the Brit Awards stage where she ran through a medley of her Future Nostalgia tracks “Don’t Start Now,” “Physical,” “Hallucinate,” “Pretty Please,” and “Love Again.”

Lipa made several seamless outfit changes throughout the five-minute performance. One outfit in particular was a callback to the infamous Union Jack dress worn by Baby Spice of the Spice Girls during her 1997 Brit Awards performance 24 years prior.

Following her performance, Lipa won big at the Brit Awards. Not only did she secure the award for Best British Album, but she also won Best Female British Solo Artist and was nominated for Best British single for her song “Physical.” Accepting the award for Best British Album, the singer described all she has learned throughout the album’s songwriting process: “Thank you so much to everyone because this album really has taught me so much strength and confidence and courage, and has given me so much love and friendship and I’m so grateful to all the incredible people that I got to create this album with.”

Watch Lipa’s full performance at the 2021 Brit Awards above.

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

If you’re an SNL nerd, you’re very familiar with Robert Smigel. He’s a longtime writer on the show and the guy who was behind “TV’s Funhouse” on SNL and “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His name is not as big as some of the others of his era, but during his SNL heyday, he was tight with Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul, Mr. Show), Greg Daniels (creator of The Office), and Conan O’Brien. In fact, Conan O’Brien was originally tapped to produce Late Night after David Letterman left, but when Conan was elevated to host, Robert Smigel ended up taking over as producer because that was his dream job.

In addition to those guys, however, Smigel was also close with Adam Sandler. Sandler, however, has not always been appreciated by some higher-brow comics, specifically Marc Maron, who admitted this week on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that he used to think less of Robert Smigel because of his association with Sandler.

“I remember I used to judge you,” Maron told Smigel. “I’m not sure I always understood Sandler. At the time, I respected you, and I respected Adam, and I don’t want to get in trouble with Adam, because he’s done amazing things. But when I was a more c***ty, cocky guy …” he didn’t like Sandler as much. “He was funny, but you appreciated that.” The implication is that Maron did not.

Smigel said that there were some other comedians who thought as Maron did. In fact, he said, he used to get into arguments with Al Franken because Sandler would “write a piece, and people would assume it’s idiotic.” Smigel gave, as an example, Sandler’s “Canteen Boy” sketch. “It was so much more psychologically complex than 90 percent of the stuff being written, and I remember” defending that sketch to Al Franken, who didn’t think much of it:

“Sandler would write sketches, and me and Conan and Greg [Daniels] and Bob [Odenkirk] would be giggling like 5-year-olds in the corner of the read-through room. They would [otherwise] play to dead silence … I think he was ahead of his time. I think he was one of the most innovative writers that I came across on SNL … Sandler was one of the few people who was reinventing sketch structure back then. I swear to God. A lot of us were just writing simple sort of premise escalates sh*t, and they were smart and funny, but they weren’t as inventive of as fresh [as Sandler’s sketches].

“He was so pure,” Smigel continued. “He brought so much originality to the show. He didn’t fit any mold. He was in his own world. He had all these voices that you never heard done in comedy before.” Smigel often explained that Sandler took sophisticated ideas and “cloaked them in a silly voice.”

Maron explained that he used to make fun of Sandler less because of who he was, and more because of his fans, who Maron didn’t like.

“He can be sensitive about that stuff,” Smigel explained. “And I kind of didn’t blame him. And I’ll tell you why it didn’t bother me that he was sensitive. Because he was the kind of guy who would never go after another comedian. It’s not what he does. He doesn’t say anything negative about other people.” For instance, Smigel continued, “I might have a friend I really like who is sh*tting on a movie he made in an interview, and Adam will be like, ‘What the f**k is he doing that for? These people worked on that movie with him. They’re not stars like he is. Why’s he getting a laugh off of that for? Why is he taking a sh*t on these people who worked hard.”

Before the podcast ended, Smigel reiterated his feelings for Sandler. “He’s my favorite human being,” he said. “He’s my best friend in show business. I have to say that. He’s the closest thing I have to a brother. But the thing is, there’s like 15 people who can say that about him. He’s that kind of guy. He really made a difference in my life. He made me feel like myself more at a time when I was so wrapped up in SNL and that all I am is the work I come up with. I’m nothing but my output, and he connected with me in a way that no one else [did] at that show.”

Source: WTF with Marc Maron

The 2021 Brit Awards were eventful, especially for The Weeknd, as he managed to pick up a win in his sole nomination, for International Male Solo Artist. Elsehwere during the broadcast, he also gave a performance of his latest No. 1 single, “Save Your Tears.”

Ariana Grande, whose appearance on the song’s newest version helped propel it to the top of the charts, did not join The Weeknd. Instead, he was accompanied by After Hours collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin), who joined him in a small half room, which was revealed to be in a stormy outdoor environment.

He also gave a pre-taped acceptance speech. Standing in the rain on the same set as his performance, he said, “Thank you, BRIT Awards! I wish I was there to accept the award. I want to shout out my UK fans for helping me break out into the world. If it wasn’t for you guys, I would not be standing here right now, so thank you, I love you. To my people in Ethiopia who are suffering: You are deep in my heart. For everyone watching, please help where you can. Thank you, bye.”

Watch The Weeknd’s performance of “Save Your Tears” and his acceptance speech at the Brits above.

It wouldn’t be July 4th weekend without fireworks, barbecues, and a new The Purge movie. Every installment of the political horror franchise has been released in early- to mid-July, including the new (and final?) one, The Forever Purge. Directed by Everardo Gout, the fifth Purge movie is about members of an “underground movement” in Texas who decide that murder shouldn’t be restricted to only one night a year, and the families, including married couple Adela and Juan, on the run from the violent outlaws.

“It’s an amazing story of Latinos and Americans coming together to overcome despair and evil,” Gout told Total Film. “I want my intentions to be crystal clear on what I think about violence and what’s going on in the world.’ That’s what [writer James DeMonaco] told me. It’s dystopian, but he’s trying to get us to look in the mirror. It makes you think, ‘Sh*t, if I get pushed into a corner, would I do the same?’ Once you open that door, how do you close it again?”

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Adela and her husband Juan live in Texas, where Juan is working as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan impresses the Tucker patriarch, Caleb, but that fuels the jealous anger of Caleb’s son, Dylan. On the morning after The Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks the Tucker family — including Dylan’s wife and his sister, forcing both families to band together and fight back as the country spirals into chaos and the United States begins to disintegrate around them.

The Forever Purge, which stars Ana de la Reguera, Josh Lucas, Tenoch Huerta, Leven Rambin, Will Patton, and Cassidy Freeman, opens on July 2.

Fans of the team chemistry between the rappers of Maybach Music Group were distraught when a rumor surfaced on social media that two of the label’s flagship artists, Meek Mill and Rick Ross, might be on bad terms. The rumor postulates that Meek denied Ross entry to his birthday party (or his VIP section) over the weekend due to a disagreement stemming from Meek’s request to prematurely end his contract with MMG. Now fans are worried that the two longtime partners-in-rhyme have serious beef over the incident.

However, some digging revealed that the only source for this information comes from known rabble-rouser/video game streamer DJ Akademiks, who described the event during a recent stream but didn’t mention any names. Because of Akademiks’s tension with Meek Mill, fans naturally reached the conclusion that Akademiks was talking about Meek and Ross. It should be noted, however, that as Akademiks was not in attendance at the party in question, his reliability as a source is shaky at best, and given his relationship with one of the artists subject to the rumor, has to be taken with a brick-sized grain of salt.

Of course, a little thing like basic journalistic principle will never stop the Twitter rumor mill from churning. Once Akademiks’s video was aggregated into a Bossip tweet, the buzz began in earnest. We’ll have to see how this “story” develops, but for now, you can see some of the fan reactions below.

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