Month: June 2021

Earlier this month marked two months since DMX’s death. The rapper passed away after a reported drug overdose that triggered a heart attack which left him on life support for nearly a week. There have been many moments since his death that have brought back memories of DMX. This includes his memorial service and the release of his posthumous album, Exodus.
And Sunday’s Father’s Day holiday is also bringing some past moments involving DMX back to light as his fiancée shared a moving message on Instagram to honor the late rapper.

“SCREAMING HAPPY FATHERS DAY ALL THE WAY TO THE HEAVENS ABOVE,” Desiree Lindstrom wrote under a video of DMX rapping along to the ABC song with their son, Exodus.

“Earl you were such an amazing, protective, loving, inspiring, hands-on, incredible father! I thank God that [Exodus] had a father like you!” she said. “In my eyes you are the best father, a mother [could’ve] asked for when it comes to her child! Thanking God and you for all these memories of you being a wonderful father! I love and miss you so much.”

The love DMX’s children have for the late rapper was captured during a memorial service for his death his 12-year-old daughter, Sonovah, shared a remix of “Slippin” while speaking about her late father.

You can watch the video of DMX and Exodus above.

Now that Lorde is back in the atmosphere, expect new music to start coming with a quickness. Returning with the comeback single “Solar Power,” featuring vocals from Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers, earlier this month. the New Zealand pop star is building off an eagerness from fans so strong that they even made her trend before she released anything, possibly signaling to her that fans were in an hour of need.

After that Solar Power album cover dropped before any new music, it took the release of the actual single for Lorde to confirm the image was her third cover, and the title of the record itself. (None of this is surprising if you followed her hints about a trip to Antarctica directling influencing LP3’s title.) All this to say, she’s updated her website again today with a serene video teaser that seems to indicate more music will be here soon.

Displayed on the site (found here, while it’s up) above the word “Solstice,” the clip shows Lorde sitting cross-legged in front of a tent and a small cooking fire and behind a bower of plants. The sound of hissing insects is the only audio on the clip, but that will likely change shortly. And since tomorrow is the solstice, maybe we’ll even get new music later this week. Check out the clip below and keep your ear to the ground.

Earlier this month, Donald Trump announced he was teaming up with another disgraced public figure to roam around the country. It’s called The History Tour and it pairs the former president with ex-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

Trump’s statement about the tour is a greatest hits of his grift-filled blathering, saying the just-announced tour somehow already got considerable buzz and that tickets would make a great gift. Then there’s the always-ominous use of “much sooner” that’s peppered his thoughts and statements in recent months.

“My tour with Bill O’Reilly is getting a lot of attention, and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe tickets would make a great Father’s Day gift?” Trump said in a statement. “In any event, I’ll see you then, and much sooner.”

But though Trump’s supporters have long awaited a return to the road tours from Trump, the news actually made many in his corner upset. As Newsweek detailed, the announced tour has the delusional folks who think Trump’s August return to the White House upset because, well, he’s supposed to be doing presidential stuff by the winter if things go according to their conspiracy-addled plan.

Supporters of the radical movement expressed concerns that Trump going on a speaking tour later this year surely means that he will not be returning a president—a false claim they have continued to believe since he lost the 2020 election more than seven months ago.

“OK I GUESS MY QUESTION IS TRUMP COMING BACK? WHY WOULD HE BE DOING A TOUR THRU THE END OF THE YEAR WITH O’REILLY. HMMMMMMMMM SOMETHING DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT?,” wrote Telegram user Peace Lilly.

“So nothing will happen until December?” added Tina N.

While others simply think it means Trump’s return to the White House will merely be delayed until winter — conspiracy theories tend to be quite malleable when need be — it’s just another case of moving of the goalposts to those adhering to a long string of beliefs that had led, in part, to the January 6 insurrection attempt in Washington.

For now, though, those who still believe need to decide whether it’s worth ponying up some considerable cash to see whatever Trump and O’Reilly have to say.

Children in all corners of the world are honoring their dads as Sunday marks Father’s Day. Whether it be classic gifts like a mug or a few new ties, dads from all over are surely enjoying the day. This includes NLE Choppa who is the proud father of a young girl. While the day is certainly his to kick back and relax, the Memphis rapper opted to share a song that captures the love he has with his daughter. Entitled “Love Letter To My Daughter,” the emotional track arrives with a video that shows a softer and more reflective side to the young rapper thanks to intimate moments with his daughter.

The rapper’s new video comes amid an up and down year for him. He recently became one of the latest rappers — joining DaBaby, Mulatto, Pooh Shiesty, and others — to deliver a “Beat Box” freestyle, one NLE Choppa used to celebrate his release from prison.

Two days before the song’s arrival, though, he was arrested in Florida on suspicion of burglary, carrying a concealed firearm, and possession of drugs including Xanax and weed. He posted a $4,500 bond and was released from jail shortly after. Elsewhere in the year, he’s shared videos for “Moonlight” and “Picture Me Grapin,” the former being a track with Big Sean.

You can watch the video for “Love Letter To My Daughter” above.

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

At the end of last week, the music world was surprised with the news that Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, which was launched with co-founders Dame Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, filed a lawsuit against Dash. It accused him of attempted to sell Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt as an NFT, something the record label said he did not have the right to do. Well, it turns out that selling a Reasonable Doubt NFT was not in Dash’s plans. His actual intentions were to sell his entire one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella, which is something he clarified to TMZ.

Dash spoke to the publication in response to the accusations stated in the lawsuit. He claims that Jay-Z tried to buy his entire Roc-A-Fella stake as recently as March, but it was at “a price I deemed unacceptable.” This forced Dash to find a more suitable buyer on his own.

He added, “Under the terms of the deal with a potential buyer, the buyer would buy my share of Roc a Fella Records and Jay-Z will have exclusive administration rights.” Dash also said that the lawsuit filed against him by Roc-A-Fella, who is represented by high-profile lawyer Alex Spiro, was simply a scare tactic to stop him from selling something he believes he has the right to sell.

Court documents from the previously-filled lawsuit said, “Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties.” It added, “The court should stop Dash….and hold him accountable for his brazen theft.”

One of the most popular episodes from Season 3 of Rick and Morty is one that manages to parody both the Saw franchise and superhero movies at large. And now a web series spinoff from that episode is set to fill in the gaps of one of the show’s silliest jokes.

A Vindicators-based spin-off is in the works, which is welcome news for the show’s superfans who take in every video posted on the Adult Swim YouTube channel and break down what it means for the ever-expanding canon of the show. The web series is one of four Adult Swim announced earlier in the year based off its programming, including Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The team of superheroes, which Rick was technically a part of, first appeared in ‘Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,’ which sees the titular pair join up with The Vindicators to take down a dangerous foe.

According to co-creator Justin Roiland’s interview with The Wrap, picking the Vindicators for the spin-off was an easy decision because of how much backstory the characters left unsaid in their appearance.

“I can’t remember if it was the network that suggested it or if it was actually Erica [Rosbe] and Sarah [Carbiener], who wrote the [‘Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender’] script in Season 3. But to me it was like, yeah that’s a really cool place to go for a spinoff, especially with how big Marvel is and the superhero genre in general is,” Roiland told TheWrap. “We had fun with the idea that the episode was the third Vindicators mission and that Rick and Morty had only been invited to one. So they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, you guys did one without us?’ And there is all this backstory to go into.”

Roiland said the series is expected to run about as long as an ordinary Rick and Morty episode, which makes sense since Vindicators 3 was wrapped up by the end of a single episode as well. And considering how that one ended, well, it also makes sense that in order to revisit those characters you’d have to go back in time a bit.

According to The Wrap, the 10-episode short series is expected to cover the previous gathering of The Vindicators, which happened without Rick and led to all the Saw-themed chaos in Vindicators 3. If you remember, after Rick’s first off-sreen appearance with The Vindicators, they “did one” without him that made him mad enough to take care of Worldender himself and create some more deadly chaos. And Roiland, who will executive produce the series, promised “it’s going to be pretty great.”

“But I don’t want to say too much right now just because I don’t know how much is going to change or how crazy it’s going to get,” Roiland says. “But I do know it’s really cool that we’re getting to do it.”

That does mean the series will likely feature little to no Rick or Morty, but it’s filling in an important piece of the show’s universe that also seems certain to give us more Crocubot. And maybe Worldender, too. So, hey, a win’s a win.

[via The Wrap]

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks are headed to a Game 7 on Sunday night, the third of this postseason and second Game 7 of the conference semifinals. The two teams have to follow the instant classic in Brooklyn from Saturday night, in which the Bucks outlasted the Nets in an overtime thriller to win 115-111 despite the best efforts of Kevin Durant, who almost hit the shot of the century to win the game over PJ Tucker if not for his, in his words, “big ass feet” that touched the three-point line to just force OT.

The Sixers and Hawks have had some thrillers of their own, most notably three fourth quarter collapses that Atlanta has managed to be on the right side of each time. In Game 1, the Hawks were the ones doing the collapsing, but held on for a narrow win before being the comeback makers in Games 4 and 5, overcoming 18 and 26-point deficits in stunning fashion. Game 7 will be back in Philly after a rather wild Game 6 that saw the Sixers finally take and hold onto a fourth quarter lead as both teams went cold late, with the physicality of the series continuing and a brief scuffle between Joel Embiid and John Collins breaking out after a hard foul.

On Sunday morning, the NBA announced the punishments for that incident, with a suspension for Hawks reserve center Bruno Fernando (who has played a grand total of three minutes in the series) for leaving the bench area and a $35,000 fine for Embiid for escalating the confrontation in an “unsportsmanlike manner.”

Ultimately, that will put the incident behind everyone without a significant impact on Game 7. Embiid’s pockets will be a touch lighter and the Hawks won’t have an emergency big man should this game reach a garbage time situation, but otherwise it is full speed ahead for everyone going into Game 7. The more concerning ramification from Game 6 is the status of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who left and did not return with knee soreness and is listed as questionable for the biggest game of the season thus far for the Hawks.

The live music industry took one of the biggest hits, on a financial front at least, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Festivals and concerts of all sizes were shut down last spring and they’re just now making a return more than a year later. With that being said, it can be expected that these live music platforms will need a little help getting back into the swing of things and that’s where Foo Fighters, Radiohead, and other acts stepped in. Through a recent auction, a number of artists helped raise $142,000 for Live Nation’s coronavirus charity.

The money was raised through an auction of one-of-a-kind Brampton bikes that were designed by the artists and the proceeds went to Crew Nation, a global relief fund that was created by Live Nation to support live music crews that were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Pheobe Bridgers, Rise Against, Enrique Iglesias, LCD Soundsystem, Khruangbin, and other artists also designed bikes for the auction.

The bikes were auctioned were through Greenhouse Auctions and Radiohead’s design turned out to be the most expensive Brompton ever sold, as it was purchased for the price tag of $24,000.

“We are blown away and incredibly appreciative of all the amazing artists who designed bikes and showed their support for Crew Nation, and to our friends at Brompton who made it all possible,” Nurit Smith, Music Forward Foundation’s executive director said according to NME. “This collaboration and the money raised is truly valued as we continue to lend our support to the crew members around the world who still need our help.”

You can view a recap clip from the auction above.

Like Tiger King, Quibi was one of those pop culture phenomenons that essentially lived out its entire life cycle in the middle of a pandemic. The portmanteau may have been a product of the pre-coronavirus world, but the platform designed to watch stuff on your phone while commuting debuted amid worldwide lockdown, struggled to gain a foothold despite more than a billion spent on original content, and eventually shut down mere months after it officially launched.

That pandemic is still ongoing, of course, but things are different now. And the new owners of Quibi’s intellectual property says they got a good deal when they ponied up for the now-defunct streaming service’s library of “quick bites.” In fact, according to Roku the newly-branded Roku Originals have gotten more eyeballs in mere weeks than they ever did on the fledgling mobile platform they were designed for.

According to Deadline, Roku did not share specific streaming details but said its library of content got much more use from its user base on the ad-supported platform than Quibi ever got, even with all those free trials they had at the onset of its launch.

Roku Originals launched on May 20, with a lineup of about 30 shows initially made for Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile streaming service. From launch through June 3, more Roku active accounts streamed a Roku Original than the number of Quibi accounts that streamed Quibi shows during the start-up’s entire run.

That’s a similar line Roku executives have given reporters as well. Speaking with reporters on Friday at Tribeca, Roku CEO Anthony Wood said the company plans to invest in more original content in the future after the success they’ve seen with Quibi’s leftovers.

“To be honest we just got a good deal,” Wood said. “It was great content, high production value at a price that was quite reasonable.”

And the company says the purchase was a successful one. Roku says more people streamed a Roku Original in the first two weeks on the platform than the number of Quibi accounts streamed the content in the lifetime of that service. Roku did not give any specific numbers or figures, but said that the originals launch led to a record number of accounts viewing Roku Channel, and that the top 10 most-watched shows on Roku Channel were all Roku Originals.

For many with smart TVs or streaming devices, Roku had long been the thing that had other streaming services on it like HBO Max and Netflix. But the attention Roku’s channel has gotten here is good news for the Pluto enthusiasts and the like out there in the streaming space that don’t mind a few ads playing in between intended commercial breaks.

And, in a way, it’s just nice to know that someone is finally watching all that stuff that cost investors a billion-plus to make. So congratulations, again, to anyone who managed to secure the bag during that gold rush for finally getting viewers to actually watch what you created.

[via Deadline, THR]

For the second weekend in a row, Manifest remains the most-watched movie or television show on Netflix, even after NBC canceled the series last week after three seasons. Fans were devastated by the cancellation and immediately took to social media to launch the #SaveManifest hashtag, which quickly began trending on Twitter.

Fans have been asking Netflix pick up the series, and those efforts are might be underway. In fact, a story about its potential resurrection was one of the most popular stories on Deadline over the weekend. Fans are clearly passionate about the series, despite ratings that put it on the bubble over on NBC, where the average number of viewers fell from 6.5 million in its first season to 3.1 million in its third.

What’s interesting, however, is how much interest there has been in the broadcast network series, despite the fact that it has essentially been ignored by critics since its opening season. Neither the second nor third seasons even have enough reviews to merit a Rotten Tomatoes score. Full disclosure: both season 2 and season 3 have only one rotten review a piece, and they were both written by me. In fact, in 17 years of writing reviews, I’ve probably received more hate mail from Manifest fans than I have about any other show for which I have written. I’m not complaining, and though I do not like the show, I do appreciate the passion exhibited by the show’s fanbase.

It’s hard to say what’s so compelling about the series, however. It does have an intriguing pilot, but as other critics noted during its first season, the “dialogue is wooden,” and it “might be the most laughably bad show of the pilot season.” Nevertheless, the series gets consistently high audience scores from Rotten Tomatoes viewers, and over on IMDB, the average viewer rating was higher than that of the most recent season of The Walking Dead.

There is something about Manifest with which audiences clearly connect. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what that is, however. The dialogue is wooden, the writers tend to abort storylines when it is convenient, and the series seems to have only a superficial understanding of its own themes. Moreover, it’s almost impossible to write about it at length without drawing comparisons to Lost, although the series seems happy to lean into those comparisons. Showrunner Jeff Rake is on the record stating that he has a six-season plan for the series, but it’s not entirely clear to me that the series even knows where it’s going from one episode to the next, much less a full six seasons.

And yet, viewers clearly have a huge affection for the series, and many of those who love the show have even acknowledged its many problems. In fact, I have received emails from a few people who have told me they like my hate recaps, acknowledged that things I have written are accurate, and yet still really enjoy watching the series.

The bigger reality is this: I think Manifest is bad, and yet I have continued to watch it for three seasons because I still enjoy it all the same. It’s not good, but there’s also nothing else like it on television. It is absolutely bonkers, and yet every character on the series confronts its ridiculous plot turns with complete dead-faced seriousness. No one on the series bats an eye when, for instance, they zap a piece of driftwood from Noah’s Ark that surfaces from a crack in the ocean floor with something called Dark Lightning, which is weirdly a real thing. When three meth heads rise from the dead after being frozen in a lake for months and decide to … rob an ice cream shop, no one scoffs at the absurdity of such a decision. There is a character played by Holly Taylor (Paige Jennings from The Americans) who at one point lights a bedroom on fire and waits for an infant named Eden to save her to demonstrate that the baby is her guardian angel. It is crackers!

Honestly, it’s exactly what makes it so much fun to watch (and write about). There’s no real internal consistent logic, so viewers never know from week to week what insane twist it’s going to take. But no matter how absurd the obstacle they face, the series leads, Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh, will confront it with grim determination. It’s hard not to appreciate their dedication to something so bad, and it is likewise difficult not to get swept up with curiosity. I am dying to know showrunner Jeff Rake’s six-season plan. What could possibly tie all of these outrageous storylines together? I have no idea, but I sure hope that Netflix (or someone else) gives this car crash another opportunity to slide off the road and land in a ditch three years later.

Manifest is dead! Long live Manifest! #SaveManifest