Month: May 2021

Kanye West’s contribution at DMX’s memorial service last month came as a surprise to many. Despite some slight speculation towards his appearance, he wasn’t confirmed as an official guest for the event, and even at that, it wasn’t expected that he and the Sunday Service Choir would provide music for it. However, that’s exactly what happened, and it turned out to be a great way to honor DMX as West, and the choir performed songs like “Ultralight Beam” and Soul II Soul’s “Keep On Movin.’” During a recent interview with Hot 97, Swizz Beatz spoke about West’s involvement in the service.

“It was a very genuine act of love and support from Ye,” Swizz said. “You know, it wasn’t too much talking, it wasn’t no negotiating. X showed up to his Sunday Service and was a big fan of it so I knew that this was something X would want to do, and Kanye was more than happy to facilitate his expertise and his choir. Shout out to the entire Sunday Service.” He added, “It was last minute… people didn’t know what we were dealing with behind the scenes.”

The Sunday Service appearance that Swizz mentioned dates back to May 17, 2019, when DMX appeared at the West-led event less than two months after he was released from prison.

You can watch the full Hot 97 interview above.

21 Savage went nearly two years without a project when he released Savage Mode II, his joint album with Metro Boomin that arrived last October. The effort was met with widespread acclaim from both fans and critics, as did his previous album, 2019’s I Am > I Was. This time around, fans of 21 Savage won’t have to wait as long for a new body of work from the Atlanta rapper as he just announced his next project, Sprial: From The Book Of Saw, is set to arrive later this week on May 14. He shared the news in a spooky 30-second clip that previewed a track that would presumably appear on it.

Sprial: From The Book Of Saw doubles as the soundtrack to the upcoming film, of the same title, which also premieres on May 14. At the end of March, it was revealed by Variety that 21 Savage signed on to executive produce the soundtrack for the movie. A month later, the rapper shared, “Spiral,” the title track and first single from the upcoming soundtrack. It’s also confirmed that the project will include features from Gunna, Young Thug, and Young Nudy.

The Spiral: From The Book Of Saw film is a spinoff of the original Sawmovie and is produced by and stars Chris Rock who appears beside Samuel L. Jackson as a father-son duo who must face a Jigsaw copycat killer.

You can watch the trailer for the Sprial: From The Book Of Saw soundtrack in the post above.

21 Savage went nearly two years without a project when he released Savage Mode II, his joint album with Metro Boomin that arrived last October. The effort was met with widespread acclaim from both fans and critics, as did his previous album, 2019’s I Am > I Was. This time around, fans of 21 Savage won’t have to wait as long for a new body of work from the Atlanta rapper as he just announced his new EP, Spiral, is set to arrive later this week on May 14. He shared the news in a spooky 30-second clip that previewed a track that would presumably appear on the EP.

The Spiral EP is most likely attached to an upcoming film, Spiral: From The Book Of Saw, which also premieres on May 14. At the end of March, it was revealed by Variety that 21 Savage signed on to executive produce the soundtrack for the movie, so it’s likely that the upcoming EP is music for the new film. A month later, the rapper shared, “Spiral,” the title track and first single from the upcoming soundtrack.

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw is a spinoff of the original Saw film and is produced by and stars Chris Rock who appears beside Samuel L. Jackson as a father-son duo who must face a Jigsaw copycat killer.

You can watch the trailer for Spiral in the post above.

Way back on January 6 (the day of the failed MAGA coup on the U.S. Capitol), people watching congressional proceedings noticed that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) appeared to be aiming a death stare at Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). A few months later, and it sure feels like a confirmation of Romney’s vibe to behold a new Washington Post profile of Hawley, which dives into his dubious rise to an insurrection cheerleader, who lifted a fist in a Hitler-esque salute during the deadly Washington, D.C. chaos.

According to WaPo, Romney knew exactly who to blame while lawmakers were evacuated from the chamber during the Senate’s vote to certify election results. He even reportedly shouted, “You have caused this!” while making no secret of his fury’s target: Hawley. Also in the profile, Hawley is revealed to have been behaving in a “combative” manner during the day’s congressional proceedings, and Hawley’s former Stanford undergrad advisor is quoted as feeling “disturbed” by Hawley’s transformation. Further, former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) expressed renewed disappointment after the Kansas City Star quoted him as saying his support of Hawley “was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.” At the time, Danforth reflected, “I don’t know if he was always like this and good at covering it up or if it happened. I just don’t know.”

On January 6, Romney tweeted a condemnation of what had transpired. He added, “Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy.”

(Via Washington Post & Kansas City Star)

Moneybagg Yo is still celebrating the success of his latest album, A Gangsta’s Pain, and today, it comes with a brand new video for “Free Promo.” On the track, Moneybagg is accompanied by Chicago rappers Polo G and Lil Durk as they express their ability to stand on their own and support themselves without promotion from others. However, in the song’s newly-released video, Moneybagg is forced to take down a deceitful partner in the tension-heavy visual. From accusations of being a snitch intentionally killing a member of his team, the double-crossing individual is up to no good for the video’s duration, but his bad ways eventually catch up to him.

The new visual arrives after Moneybagg Yo earned the first No. 1 album of his career with A Gangsta’s Pain. The project debuted with a total of 110,000 album units sold, and the following week, it checked in at No. 2 with 70,000 album units. After learning that his new album topped the charts, Moneybagg celebrated the news on social media. “Mannnnee Dis Sh*t Feel Crazy,” he wrote under an Instagram post. “I’m Forever Grateful Tho! Without My Fans and My Team I Wouldn’t Be Sh*t ! God Working Thank Y’all I Promise To Neva Let Up !!”

Revisit our review of A Gangsta’s Pain here.

You can press play on the visual above.

A Gangsta’s Pain is out now via N-Less/CMG/Interscope. Get it here.

Aubrey Plaza and Danny DeVito will be lending their voices to a new horror comedy series for FXX. From creator Darcy Fowler, Little Demon will star Plaza as a single mom trying to steer clear of her baby’s daddy who also happens to be the Devil. DeVito will voice the Dark Lord of the Underworld in the animated comedy that’s executive produced by Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon.

Here’s the official synopsis for Little Demon from FXX:

Thirteen years after being impregnated by the Devil (Danny DeVito), a reluctant mother (Aubrey Plaza) and her Antichrist daughter (Lucy DeVito) attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware, but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter’s soul.

Aubrey Plaza serves as an executive producer along with Fowler, Kirschner, Valla, Dan Harmon, Jersey Films 2nd Avenue’s Jake, Lucy, and Danny DeVito, and ShadowMachine (Monica Mitchell, Corey Campodonico and Alex Bulkley).

Plaza is coming off critically-acclaimed roles in Hulu’s Happiest Season and her latest film, Black Bear, which earned her praise back in December from her Funny People co-star Adam Sandler. While interviewing Plaza for Interview magazine, Sandler couldn’t help but gush about her work in the disturbing thriller before getting down to the Q&A.

“This movie is unbelievable. Your performance killed me,” Sandler said. “I loved you in it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. This is just a monumental performance. People are going to be so excited seeing this. You dove in there so deep.”

When Netflix unleashed the trailer for Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead a few weeks ago, the biggest revelation, surprisingly enough, was not the undead tiger, although that was pretty cool to behold. Rather, the Internet grew enraptured by Tig Notaro’s badass vibes while she added fuel to a jet engine while chomping on a white-tipped cigar. Tig previously revealed that she was completely puzzled by being called “sexy AF,” and now, she’s elaborating further in an interview with Vulture.

The piece is actually a joint interview with Snyder, who revealed that it was quite the feat to digitally remove disgraced comedian Chris D’Elia and insert a green-screened Tig in his place, although he told Vulture that the process “was cheaper than creating the movie’s CGI zombie tiger.” Further, Snyder explained that his casting director recommended Tig for the role, and “My brain just went, Wait. Tig. Yes. That’s it. [Then] I’m like, ‘Do you think she would do this, though?’” The rest, as they say, was CGI-aided history, although Tig admits that she was “baffled” to get the call. “I felt like there was some sort of misunderstanding,” she admitted.

Tig also pointed towards some apprehension in replacing D’Elia, given that she didn’t know whether her appearance would lead to any angry-man grumbling:

“My phone started blowing up: ‘You’re trending on Twitter! Everybody’s talking about how you’re sexy AF,’” she says. “I was so confused. I really thought there was going to be a backlash from me replacing Chris. I didn’t think I was going to be trending for being a badass.”

The worry about backlash, fortunately, proved to be nothing in the long run. However, Tig does admit that filming by herself was quite the challenge, given that helicopter-bomb scene with Bautista was filmed by him about a year prior. And there were zombies involved, which sounds like a mess to imagine as well. “That’s where I’m like, ‘I am not a trained actor… I had to be yelling lines, I have a zombie in the back of my helicopter, I have to press the right buttons and flick the right switches,” Tig elaborated. “You’re sitting there with all these adults standing ten feet away while you’re alone, acting like you’re crashing. I thought, Oh my God, I feel like an idiot. Can we be done with this?”

Netflix’s Army of the Dead streams on May 21.

(Via Vulture)

The New York Knicks are enjoying a phenomenal season, exceeding any rational expectation and putting an entertaining product on the floor every night. With that success comes increased attention, particularly for head coach Tom Thibodeau and star forward Julius Randle, as both have genuine cases for major NBA awards on the heels of the the breakout campaign. The stretch run continues for the Knicks on Tuesday evening with a road trip to face the Los Angeles Lakers and, while LeBron James won’t be playing, New York will face Anthony Davis and company in front of a national audience on TNT. As such, there was some Knicks-based discussion from Turner’s studio show and, as often, hilarity ensued.

Shaquille O’Neal was speaking in a (relatively) positive fashion about the Knicks but, as he finished his thought, Shaq referred to the currently retired Zach Randolph as someone playing at an MVP level this season, when he really meant to discuss Randle.

This isn’t the first time Shaq has had a name mix-up on the air in Atlanta, but this was of the amusing variety. For one, there was the correction to say “he doesn’t play right now” in reference to Randle. Then, Shaq kept things on-brand by refusing to walk it back by admitting a mistake, instead choosing to go with a reference to “whatever his name is,” before Adam Lefkoe pointed out that he said Randolph, which Shaq then noted he was thinking about his buddy Z-Bo.

Obviously, there isn’t much harm done here, but it does play in to the backdrop that the Knicks came out of nowhere this season. To be fair at least, Randolph was also a left-handed power forward that briefly played with the Knicks, but let’s just say the two players did not have similar playing styles (despite how Wade tried to help the big fella save it at the end) when examining what Randle has accomplished in 2020-21. Randle might make an All-NBA team while averaging nearly 24 points and more than 10 rebounds per game, and his name should probably be at the forefront in the middle of a career-best showing.

A little over a week ago, video emerged from a Lousiville nightclub that showed Jack Harlow standing just feet away from what would be a deadly shooting. The incident was captured on camera and shared by TMZ and in it, the rapper (who is from Louisville) could be seen moving toward safety. Now, TMZ reports that the rapper’s DJ Ronnie Luciano, born Ronnie Tyshon O’Bannon, was indicted on charges for his alleged link in the shooting. O’Bannon was specifically charged “with murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the fatal shooting” and TMZ further reports that a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

The shooting occurred at Lousiville’s Ultra Lounge during the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. In the video, Harlow can be seen enjoying his time at the nightclub when an argument broke out in front of him. The vocal dispute quickly turned physical and a brief moment later, gunshots could be heard which sparked chaos in the nightclub as the attendees, including Harlow, ran to safety. The shooting resulted in the death of one woman and sent another man to the hospital with non-fatal injuries.

It was just a week before this incident that Lil Durk’s Smurkchella concert in Phoenix came to an early end due to a shooting. There, only one woman was injured after a bullet grazed her leg.

(Via TMZ)

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

Soulja Boy is facing some legal troubles. As the rapper enjoys the success of his latest single, “She Make It Clap,” an effort that went No. 1 on TikTok, he was reportedly hit with a lawsuit from his ex-girlfriend. According to TMZ, Soulja Boy was sued for alleged sexual battery and domestic abuse by his former partner, who chose to stay anonymous and be known as Jane Doe in the lawsuit that was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. She claims to have started dating Soulja Boy back in 2007 before entering a serious relationship with him from 2014 to 2019, but she says that she exited it because she could “no longer stand the abuse.”

The rapper’s ex-girlfriend also accuses him of attacking her in 2015, an incident she says resulted in a miscarriage and the removal of her uterine lining. She also claims (via TMZ) that Soulja Boy “began to physically attack and yell at her” while they were filming their reality TV show, and in 2019, she alleges that he physically removed her and her daughter from their shared home, and when she later refused to enter back into a relationship with him, he allegedly “gripped [Doe’s] neck and choked her while threatening her life.”

This is the rapper’s second lawsuit of the year after he was sued (in January) for alleged sexual battery, sexual assault, and false imprisonment by his former personal assistant, who also filed under Jane Doe.

(Via TMZ)