Month: June 2021

Of all Drake’s collaborations, perhaps the most celebrated are those he’s created with Rick Ross, with tracks like “Lord Knows” “Gold Roses” and more recently, “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” receiving acclaim as fan favorites. Naturally, that’s why fans were excited to learn that the two veteran entertainers are working on a joint album, courtesy of NFL star Chad Johnson. During a recent interview with Complex, Ross played coy, coming short of an outright confirmation, but teased that the project’s timing relied on both rappers completing their current album cycles (Drake has yet to release Certified Lover Boy and Ross has an album in the works, as well).

“We may have spoken within the last 48 hours,” he admitted. “But it’s only so much I can say other than: this is the closest or the realest he’s ever been. He’s wrapping up his project and I’m in the same space. So the timing and everything is aligning. It’s something that we really want to give to the streets, on some real sh*t.” He also allowed that “it’s looking real solid.”

He also gave an update on his own album, titled Richer Than I Ever Been. “I’m actually in the final stages of the LP,” he said. “I can’t wait to get ready and release it. I want to release two records, possibly at one time. They could be coming as soon as in the next two or three weeks. But my album will be out this summer, and it’s going to be exciting. I really pushed the envelope. I didn’t just want to put something on the street just to say I released another project. I wanted to elevate, go to the next level. I believe I’ve done that. So, we fixing to get ready and drop it.”

You can read the full interview here.

Cryptocurrency can be a dangerous game, especially if you’re using real money you can’t afford to lose in what can be some wild booms and busts. As Mark Cuban learned last week, even “stablecoins” can zero-out in a hurry and leave people out of luck if they’re not fast enough with their Coinbase app.

But sometimes, you can get lucky and become wildly wealthy overnight. Well, at least in theory. And in the latest case of this, a man apparently woke up one day as a crypto trillionaire thanks to a coin called… Rocket Bunny?

According to Fox 13, a Georgia man became a crypto trillionaire overnight thanks to a $20 investment. (Not a typo. He invested twenty dollars.) Chris Williamson, who said he’s “been dabbling in the crypto and stuff now for maybe eight months” and called them “play coins.” But one of those coins saw a huge spike in value basically overnight, and he kind of freaked out about it.

“I woke up, it’s like 9 a.m. and I always check my phone to check how my crypto to see how it’s doing and I like looked at it, I’m waking up, and I’m just like, ‘Naw, I’m sleeping,” the Georgia nursing school student said. “I look at it again and I’m like… at that point I fall out of my bed literally, and I run to my desk and I’m logging into the Coinbase app and stuff and I’m talking to my friends, got him on the phone and I’m like, ‘Dude, you need to help me figure out how to sell this now!’ He’s like, ‘Chris, something wrong.”

As Williamson detailed on Twitter, he tried to reach out to Coinbase to figure out if he’s incredibly wealthy or not. And when that seemed to go nowhere, he decided to post on Twitter about it.

It’s still unclear what the true value of his coins is, or how exactly any of this happened, even if the prevailing and less-fun theory is glitch-related. The Fox story explains that he’s encountered others who have seen the same things in his account, while some who have bought the same amount of Rocket Bunny have not become fabulously wealthy on paper. Though this huge and probably fleeting growth in value could drive any normal person into madness, he does seem to have a really good head on his shoulders and is enjoying the hypothetical ride to fabulous wealth.

“The ongoing joke right now between me and like my friends in Coinbase and one of the emails I sent them was like, ‘Look, I need y’all to let me know what’s going on because I got a mega-yacht company ready to build me a penguin-shaped yacht,” he said laughing. “So, you know, let me know.”

We now really, really hope Chris gets his superyacht.

[via Fox 13]

Today, Wingstop announced that they’d be launching Thighstop, a virtual fried chicken concept that will serve the chain’s eleven flavors smothered on your choice of bone-in or boneless thighs, which would make Wingstop the only national fried chicken chain doing dark meat-only chicken nuggets. A huge win for people who love flavor!

Who knows, if this ends up a success, we might actually see the juicier more flavorful (and cheaper) dark meat hit menus at the competition, too. A thigh-based Popeyes chicken sandwich? We’ll take three. Wingstop announced the new move with an ad campaign starring Rick Ross, and now I can’t wait until the moment I can say “nah we doin’ thighs” the next time someone suggests we hit some wings.

According to CNBC, Wingstop launched Thighstop in an effort to offset the strain that has been placed on chicken production nationwide, which has resulted in an almost 20 cent price hike on chicken wings per pound compared to last year. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that puts the cost of chicken wings at $2.72 per pound, on average.

CNBC also reports that the National Chicken Council (hilarious title but very necessary) has confirmed that the number of broiler chickens raised for meat fell four percent in the first quarter of this year, but production has begun to pick up since April. Here’s to hoping this minor chicken shortage won’t lead to higher wing prices nationwide, but if we have to eat a few sauce-drenched chicken thighs to help keep things in balance, we’ll gladly take up that challenge.

Thighstop will be available for delivery or carryout at approximately 14,000 Wingstop locations nationwide through DoorDash or online at Thighstop.com for pickup from your nearest participating Wingstop.

It’s not clear what Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker is doing, but he’s definitely doing something in a video he shared this afternoon, titled “Rushium.” The sometimes abstract clip, which is scored by Tame Impala’s “Posthumous Forgiveness,” is a minute long and depicts Parker as a pharmaceutical scientist. The end of the video displays a screen that reads, “Phase 1 Clinical Trials Begin 01/2021.”

So, it’s not clear what the video is meant to promote, but given that a lot of artists have been announcing their first post-pandemic tour dates lately, that at least feels like a possibility. The vial that Parker holds in the final shot of the video appears to read “S.R. Tour,” suggesting that Parker will be announcing tour dates in support of The Slow Rush.

Parker previously told Apple Music of “Posthumous Forgiveness,” “Wrestling with demons of the past. Something from a long time ago doesn’t add up. I was lied to! Maybe there’s a good explanation but I’ll never get to hear it, so it’s up to me to imagine what it might sound like…”

He also previously told Uproxx of The Slow Rush, “I think it would be a stretch, calling it rock music, but that’s really all I can say about it. At the end of the day, genres are genres because of the way they make people feel. Rock music is rock music because it makes people think of rock when they listen to it, not because it has guitars, drums, and bass. […] I wanted to try and use things from totally different worlds in the way that a hip-hop producer would. To be almost collage-y. Make a soundscape and build a song from there.”

Revisit our 2020 interview with Parker here.

Fresh off the successful release of his joint mixtape with Lil Durk, Voice Of The Heroes, Lil Baby is setting out on his Back Outside tour this fall, beginning September 1 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and running through October 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Naturally, his touring partner is none other than his mixtape collaborator Lil Durk. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 25 at 10 AM local time on LiveNation.com. Citicard members will have early access beginning Tuesday, June 22 at 10 AM through Thursday, June 24 at 10 PM.

9/01 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
9/03 – Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theatre
9/10 – Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
9/11 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
9/14 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
9/15 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
9/16 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/17 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
9/20 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
9/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion
9/23 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
9/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
9/25 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
9/27 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
9/28 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
9/30 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
10/04 – Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Arena
10/06 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
10/07 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/09 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake
10/10 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
10/14 – Tampa, FL @ MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
10/15 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iThink Financial Amphitheatre

The pandemic shut down a lot of festivals in 2020 and 2021, but it was especially unfortunate to see newcomer event Just Like Heaven not get to keep up the momentum it built with its inaugural 2019 event. Now, though, the one-day Goldenvoice festival is finally returning for its second year, on May 21, 2022 at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Next year’s lineup will be led by Interpol, Modest Mouse, The Shins, and M.I.A. The full lineup, in alphabetical order, consists of !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Bloc Party, Chromeo, Cut Copy, Franz Ferdinand, Geographer, The Go! Team, The Hives, Islands, Kele Okereke (DJ set), The Cribs, Interpol, M.I.A., Modest Mouse, Peaches, Santigold, The Shins, The Raveonettes, Them Jeans and More Cinespace DJs, Wolf Parade, and Yelle.

Interpol’s Paul Banks shared a statement about the festival, noting that it will mark the band’s post-pandemic return to Los Angeles: “Interpol is overjoyed to announce we will be performing at Brookside at the Rose Bowl, headlining Just Like Heaven 2022. It’s an incredible line up of artists, we couldn’t think of a better way to be returning to LA!”

Meanwhile, it’s a big day for fans of The Shins: Aside from this news, it was also revealed today that the group’s 2001 album Oh, Inverted World just charted on the Billboard 200 for the first time thanks to a recent 20th anniversary reissue.

After Roma won three Academy Awards in 2019, legendary director Steven Spielberg made a very public move to prevent Netflix from competing at the Oscars ever again. It was one of the more high profile clashes in the ongoing streaming wars, which is why it’s very surprising to learn that Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment has entered into a game-changing deal that will see Amblin produce two movies a year for Netflix for the foreseeable future. Spielberg directing some of the films is reportedly in the mix.

According to Variety, the deal was hashed out by Netflix’s Head of Original Films, Scott Stuber, who had a relationship with Spielberg during his time at Universal. A theatrical release for the Amblin films is also on the table, but will be reviewed on a “case-by-case” basis:

“At Amblin, storytelling will forever be at the center of everything we do, and from the minute Ted [Sarandos] and I started discussing a partnership, it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways,” Spielberg said in a statement. “This new avenue for our films, alongside the stories we continue to tell with our longtime family at Universal and our other partners, will be incredibly fulfilling for me personally since we get to embark on it together with Ted, and I can’t wait to get started with him, Scott, and the entire Netflix team.”

The Netflix deal is also significant because, for a while, it seemed like Spielberg was forming a close bond with Apple TV. Whether that relationship will continue going forward will be interesting to watch.

(Via Variety)

A story out of Moore, Oklahoma shows the power of what can happen when people look out for strangers in their communities and take action.

Michael Lynn was running some errands on June 15 on a hot Oklahoma day when he noticed a shirtless young man walking down the side of a service road. Sensing that the man needed some assistance he pulled up beside him and asked if he needed a ride.

The young man, Donte Franklin, 20, replied, “Yes, sir!”

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Donte was doing his daily, eight-mile walk to the Buffalo Wild Wings on the other side of town where he works as a chef. After his shift, he does the same long, eight-mile walk back home. To make it to work on time, Donte has to leave the house three hours before his shift starts.

He walks an average of five and a half hours a day to and from work.

And yet, “I haven’t missed a shift at all,” Donte told Fox News, adding that he’s never been late.

Fundraiser started for Oklahoma man who walks 17 miles for work

www.youtube.com

“I’m like man he’s walking a long way,” Michael said.

Donte got into the car and they had a nice chat about Donte’s life on the way to the Buffalo Wild Wings. When the two arrived, Donte pulled a clean Buffalo Wild Wings shirt out of his backpack and was ready to get cookin’.

Michael found out that Donte didn’t have any cash to get a bite to eat so he gave him $20.

He was so impressed by Donte’s work ethic that he shared a post about him on Facebook that went viral.

“I’m thinking this young man is truly on a mission to survive!” Michael wrote. “During the trip over there he told me a lot about himself because I asked … I just want to wish him well … may God bless him and I hope his days get better for him!”

The post inspired Michael to start a GoFundMe page to raise some money for Donte to get a car. In just five days, the fundraiser has raised over $27,000.

“I can really help my family with this,” said Donte, “It’s just a really good blessing.”

But before Donte buys a new car, he needs to get his driver’s license. To help him out while he waits, a local bicycle club has given him a bike that he can ride to work every day.

When asked where he gets his strength, Donte told Fox News that his mother is his greatest inspiration. Unfortunately, she passed away when he was a teenager.

“She passed away when I was 16-years-old. She had Hepatitis C. After she passed away it’s just been hard for me,” he explained.

via Michael Lynn / Facebook

The story highlights what can happen when one stranger offers help to another. “If it can make just one person go help someone else that’s all that matters,” Michael said.

Now, the chance encounter has resulted in a beautiful friendship. “I think we need to keep each other,” Michael said, hugging Donte. “I love this guy like my own.”

Donte is studying to be a welder and in addition to getting a car, hopes to use the GoFundme money to help his family.

Every so often, a once-in-a-generation athlete appears on the scene, and we’ve just witnessed one of those athletes fly through the Olympic trials and emerge as the fastest woman in the U.S.

21-year-old Sha’carri Richardson is only five feet one-inch tall, and she ran the 100-meter dash against a headwind in only 10.86 seconds, handily beating out the other nine runners on the track.

REMEMBER THE NAME.

Let us introduce you to the newest member of the U.S. Olympic Team: Sha’Carri Richardson.… https://t.co/2YgXRMSll7

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics)
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It wasn’t just the win that has people talking. It was how she pulled ahead in the final half of the sprint. It was how she pointed to the clock in the final 30 meters of the semifinal heat, knowing she was dominating the field. It’s the visual flair—the flaming orange hair, huge eyelashes, and long, bejeweled nails. And it was her rush to the stands to bury her face into her beloved grandmother’s lap after her final heat win.

Richardson had been a teenage track star, taking home multiple national titles during her high school years. After a year running collegiate track at LSU, she decided to go professional. She knows she’s good, and she wants the world to know that she knows.

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“I just want the world to know that I’m that girl,” she told NBC Sports after the semifinal run. “Every time I step on the track, I’m going to try to do what it is that me, my coach (and) my support team believe I can do, and (with) the talent that God blessed me to have.”

She finished the semifinal heat with a time of 10.64 seconds, pointing to the time clock in the final stretch. Since it was aided with a tailwind, it doesn’t count toward her personal best (which currently stands at 10.72 seconds, making her the second-fastest woman in the world, only behind Jamaica’s Shelly Ann Fraser-Price). But the flourish counts for something.

PeriodT. https://t.co/F7zAhLOwBk

— stas (@AstasiaWill)
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Iconic. @itskerrii https://t.co/uUYQudw5SJ

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics)
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“When you stand five feet one-inch tall, you get told your entire life what you can and cannot do,” the announcer said in the lead-up to the final Olympic trial. “That chip on her shoulder is because every time she’s been told that. She’s been able to overcome those odds and get it done.”

In a post-race interview, Richardson talked about how much her family and coach’s support means to her.

“My grandmother is my heart,” Richardson said after the race. “My grandmother is my superwoman, so to be able to have her here for the biggest meet in my life and being able to cross the finish line and run up the steps knowing I’m an Olympian now is just so amazing.”

This ❤️

Sha’Carri Richardson embraces her family after qualifying for her first Olympic Games.… https://t.co/AI2LUvYEde

— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf)
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She revealed in a television interview after returning to the track that she had found out her biological mother had passed away the week before. In praising her family and coach, Richardson began to choke up.

“Nobody knows what I go through,” she said. “Everybody has struggles and I understand that. Y’all see me on this track and y’all see the poker face that I put on, but nobody but them and my coach knows what I go through on a day-to-day basis. And I’m highly grateful to them. Without them, there would be no me. Without my grandmother, there would be no Sha’carri Richardson. My family is my everything. My everything, until the day I’m done.”

Watch the final heat and post-race interview here:

Sha’Carri Richardson, now America’s fastest woman, scorches her Olympic Trials final | NBC Sports

www.youtube.com

Back on January 22 (a few months after the failed January 6 MAGA coup), Roger Stone penned a scathing op-ed, in which he tore into Donald Trump’s pardon of Steve Bannon for his defrauding of Trump supporters. Bannon had allegedly embezzled donations to help Trump build that “big, beautiful” U.S.-Mexico border wall, and Stone was incensed that Trump was cool with letting his guy off the hook. Did Stone’s saltiness have a defensive air to it as well? Perhaps, because although Trump commuted Stone’s own seven-felony sentence, there may have been some jealousy and cross-pollination behind Stone’s anger.

The political strategist and Nixon fanboy who helped Trump get elected remained loyal to Trump throughout his presidential tenure and even held a MAGA rally a week before January 6. And as it turns out, members of Congress like Josh Hawley (who appeared to be quite concerned over cell phone records) aren’t the only ones who should possibly worry about what the feds uncover about the planning that led up to January 6. LA Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman appeared on MSNBC on Sunday to discuss how Stone is reportedly under investigation by the Department of Justice.

Via Raw Story, here’s part of what Litman said about the alleged involvement of Stone and Alex Jones:

“They were not just there. They made really incendiary comments and, look, we already do have a conspiracy — nine people have been charged so anyone, including Stone, Jones, [Ali] Alexander who adopted that unlawful purpose and did any overt act would be guilty of conspiracy. In the case of a Stone, we know from previous conduct that the [Justice] Department isn’t spoiling generally to go after him and former Trump people, but the paramount goal here is to really leave, forgive the expression, no stone unturned with respect to Jan. 6.”

Litman added that the DOJ is keen to piece together exactly how MAGA followers “were radicalized” into believing the “Stop The Steal” propaganda. Given that Stone’s been pushing Stop The Steal disinformation since the 2016 election (while possibly anticipating a Trump loss against Hillary Clinton) alongside Steve Bannon, well, Stone should probably be very worried. And that’s even more reason to explain why he was so irritated about Bannon’s pardon (because Stone obviously won’t be getting one from Trump if this DOJ effort comes to shove against Stone).

(Via Raw Story)