Month: December 2021

After two standout EPs, Toronto’s Charlotte Day Wilson finally released her much-anticipated debut LP, Alpha, this year. The elegant record is a can’t miss collection of tightly-constructed songs about Queer love that easily stands up among this year’s best releases. It features tracks with fellow Canandians Badbadnotgood and Daniel Caesar, as well as Syd on “Take Care Of You.” Day Wilson is as memorable as a singer as she is a producer and her production on “Mountains” was sampled by Drake on his track “Fair Trade” off of Certified Lover Boy.

Today, Day Wilson has shared US tour dates in support of Alpha, as well as a deluxe version of the album. The release features two new tracks in “Even Is The Lie” and a remix version of “Take Care Of You,” this time, featuring guest vocals from King Princess, Amaarae, and Meshell Ndegeocello. It’s a new dimension to the track that pairs Day Wilson with other contemporary like-minded singers.

Listen to the “Take Care Of You” (Remix) above.

Tickets for the Alpha tour go on sale Friday, 12/03 at 10 AM local time. Get them here.

Alpha (Deluxe) is out now via Stone Woman Music. Check out the album art and tracklist below.

1. “Strangers”
2. “I Can Only Whisper” (feat. BADBADNOTGOOD)
3. “If I Could”
4. “Lovesick Utopia”
5. “Mountains”
6. “Danny’s Interlude”
7. “Changes”
8. “Take Care of You” (feat. Syd)
9. “Keep Moving10. Wish it Was Easy”
11. “Adam Complex”
12. “Even is the Lie”
13. “Take Care of You Remix” (Feat. King Princess, Amaarae & Meshell Ndegeocello)
14. “If I Could” (Music Video)
15. “Keep Moving” (Music Video)
16. “Changes” (Music Video)

03/02/2022 — Detroit, MI
03/03/2022 — Chicago, IL
03/05/2022 — Philadelphia, PA
03/06/2022 — Washington D.C
03/08/2022 — New York City, NY
03/10/2022 — Atlanta, GA
03/12/2022 — Dallas, TX
03/13/2022 — Houston, TX
03/16/2022 — Las Vegas. NV
03/17/2022 — Los Angeles, CA
03/20/2022 — Santa Ana, CA
03/21/2022 — Oakland, CA
03/23/2022 — Portland, OR
03/24/2022 — Seattle, WA

Travis Scott has been in a whole heap of trouble since this year’s Astroworld Festival, where 10 people were killed and 300 injured as the result of a crowd crush. Now, he and Astroworld promoter Live Nation (and Live Nation’s ScoreMore subsidiary) are facing over 100 lawsuits from attendees and the families of victims, with the total damages being demanded topping $3 billion. Among them are the families of a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old who both died due to their injuries, as well as a pair of security guards from the concert who handled what they believed to be dead bodies.

Yesterday, it was reported that Travis and Live Nation had secured representation for the upcoming onslaught of cases (which might be condensed to one, big, more manageable case), but today, it looks like Travis’ choice is already drawing even more negative attention for the embattled Houston rapper. As interested parties look into Daniel Petrocelli, Travis’ lawyer, they’ve come to realize that Petrocelli was the lawyer that Donald Trump called to defend him from fraud lawsuits stemming from his Trump University real estate seminars. Petrocelli was able to negotiate a $25 million settlement.

That may be just the outcome the rapper is looking for; at least one of the lawsuits against him is demanding $750 million among 120 Astroworld attendees, so paying out just a fraction via settlement could very well be the best-case scenario for him.

Jon Stewart is the latest addition to ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience special set to air next week. The comedian will play a “surprise role” during the Facts of Life portion of the special hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear. Joining Stewart are the previously announced Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Gabrielle Union, and Alison Tolman who will play Blaire, Jo, Tootie, and Natalie, respectively, while Ann Dowd will pull double-duty by playing Mrs. Garrett on both The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes reenactments.

As The Hollywood Reporter points out, there are only two notable male roles on The Facts of Life: Andy, the foster child who worked at Mrs. Garrett’s shop, and handyman George Burnett, played by a then-little-known actor named George Clooney. If we had to wager a bet who Stewart is playing, we’d put our money on Clooney.

As for the Diff’rent Strokes portion of the live special, ABC also procured an all-star cast. Stepping into Gary Coleman’s role of Arnold Drummond is Kevin Hart while Damon Wayans plays his older brother Willis and John Lithgow will be Mr. Drummond. Oddly, there’s been no mention of a casting for Kimberly — yet.

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes airs December 7 on ABC at 8 PM ET and will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

For some time now, Fortnite fans have suspected Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had something cooking and a recent video the star shared on his Instagram is adding some serious fuel to that kitchen fire. Earlier today, The Rock took to Instagram to post an advertisement for his energy drink ZOA, and while the video might not seem like anything unusual to your average viewer, Fortnite enthusiasts were left reeling by some pretty wild Easter eggs Johnson scattered throughout the clip — including a brief glimpse of the mask of iconic Fortnite character The Foundation wears in the game.

In addition to the helmet, several other artifacts in the video give credence to the theory that Johnson is secretly voicing The Foundation. For example, on the actor’s table is a prop gun that looks like something straight out of the popular battle royale game. Johnson also mentions Zero Point, the energy source located at the center of Fortnite iconic island, several times. Last but not least, some fans even suspect the camera spins in the clip — which seem a bit out of place — actually allude to Fortnite chapter 3’s “flipside” theme.

Introduced back in March, The Foundation (which, come on, even sounds like “The Rock“) is one of Fortnite’s Seven, a mysterious group of meta-humans that seek to fight back against the game’s villainous Imagined Order. Nearly as soon as the character was introduced into the game, Fortnite fans began to suspect the person behind The Foundation was secretly Johnson, as his build and voice shared a lot of similarities with the former WWE star. If that wasn’t enough, Johnson then fanned these rumors by sharing a strange video the very same as the debut, seemingly connecting him to the character.

As for why Johnson is teasing his connection to the game now, it’s very likely due to the fact that Fornite‘s chapter 2 finale event is merely two days away. While Epic Games has kept Johnson’s involvement hush-hush thoroughout all of The Foundation’s various escapades, it’s likely a big reveal is coming soon.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be without one of their top receivers for the next three games after the NFL handed down suspensions to Antonio Brown and Mike Edwards — and free agent John Franklin III — for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols after an investigation into allegations that Brown had purchased a fake vaccine card made by his former private chef.

As the NFL’s release says, “the NFLPA represented the three players during a joint NFL-NFLPA review into the recent allegations that players misrepresented their vaccination status under the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocols. That review supported those allegations and found that the three players violated protocols.”

The Buccaneers offered a brief statement accepting the suspensions, which the three players involved all agreed to serve without an appeal.

It’s clear that everyone seems to want this to all go away, but it is a significant story in that it’s not just a violation of NFL policy but a federal crime to use a fake vaccination card — although it seems it won’t get to the point of federal charges coming their way. From a football perspective, it’s a big loss for a Bucs team trying to lock up a top seed in the NFC to have to go into their next three games with the Falcons, Bills, and Saints without two of their biggest weapons on the outside.

If there’s one thing Oakland rapper Guapdad 4000 loves, it’s money. So it makes sense that’s the title of his new single, “Money,” which he released today along with a glittering music video that finds him wandering the Bay Area adorned in a sparkling collection of necklaces, a brand new grill, and memorabilia from his favorite animated shows, Rick & Morty and Cowboy Bebop. All along he does his signature “I just got the receipt dance” to the funky Drew Banga-produced beat, which samples the instantly recognizable bassline and hooks from The O’Jays’ 1974 hit “For The Love Of Money.”

Whether the new single means another project is on the way remains to be seen, but he’s had a tremendous year nonetheless. “Money” is the self-declared scam boy’s first original single since completing the rollout of his heartfelt album 1176 with producer Illmind. The album, which appears on Uproxx’s Best Albums Of 2021 and Best Hip-Hop Albums Of 2021 lists, also spawned the singles “How Many,” “She Wanna,” and “Chicken Adobo,” as well as a remix of “How Many” featuring Rick Ross. If this is how Guapdad kicks off his 2022 campaign, it’s a fun, catchy way to do so after shaking off his demons on his last album.

You can watch the video for “Money” above.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Santa Inc (HBO Max series) — In this stop-motion animated series, the perpetually jolly Seth Rogen voices what seems like Santa while Sarah Silverman plays the dedicated elf who’s seeking to become the first lady Santa. Let’s hope she kicks some butt and rises above all the dude candidates, and you’ll also hear the voices of Craig Robinson, Nicholas Braun, Maria Bamford, Leslie Grossman, Gabourey Sidibe, and Joel Kim Booster along the way.

Baking It: Season 1 (Peacock series) — This baking competition series takes the stage with Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg as hosts who are guiding home bakers on the way to winning the “Best In Dough” title, which (of course) will come with a cash prize.

AKC Heroes: 2021 Awards for Canine Excellence (ESPN2, 11:00pm) — The life-affirming special returns to celebrate the mankind’s best friend, the goodest boys (and girls) out there, who are helping their owners and communities in exchange for some belly rubs. Expect deep dives into the lives of five fur-covered heroes who’ve won these awards: Exemplary Companion, Search and Rescue, Service Dog, Therapy Dog, and Uniformed Service K-9.

Single All The Way (Netflix movie) — What you really need to know here is that Jennifer Coolidge is starring in a Christmas movie. There’s also Michael Urie starring as a perpetual singleton and Philemon Chambers as his best friend (and pretend lover for nosy-family purposes), along with Kathy Najimy as a doting mother and Luke Macfarlane as a hot personal trainer. I just need to see Coolidge boozing it up, and the rest is gravy.

Queen Of The Universe: Season 1 (Paramount+ series) — RuPaul executive produces and Graham Norton hosts this drag singing competition show that features drag queens who (literally) seek world domination. Representing the U.S, Mexico, Canada, India, Brazil, China, France, and so on, these contestants are fierce.

Annie Live! (NBC, 8:00pm) — An all-new cast brings this tried-and-true story (of an orphan who lights up the life of a lonely millionaire) to life. The cast includes Tituss Burgess as Rooster Hannigan, so I’m totally there for this. In addition, you’ll see Celina Smith as Annie, Harry Connick Jr. as Daddy Warbucks, and Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan.

Perfect Life (Vida Perfecta): Season 2 (HBO Max series) — Maria’s in mom mode but finding it hard to get her head in the baby game. Meanwhile, Cris and Pablo aren’t having the perfect love adventure, and Esther’s readying to tie the knot with Julia.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Mahershala Ali, Jason Reynolds

In case you missed this pick from last week:

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+ miniseries) — The Fab Four (obviously John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) will appear in this three-part (Peter Jackson-produced) documentary series that covers the making The Beatles’ 1970s album, Let It Be. In addition, we’ll get to dive behind the curtain to watch them prep for their first live show in years. Expect to see some myths dispelled about how this period really went down for the band.

Ted Cruz and Jimmy Kimmel clearly aren’t fans of each other. Their ongoing feud got weird(er) this week when Kimmel asked people to tweet a photoshopped nightmare of a naked dude riding a hot dog with Cruz’s face attached. Yes, everyone involved here is being over the top and tasteless and everything else. That still doesn’t change the fact that Ted won’t stop diverting from the issue that Kimmel brought up this week — when he called Ted a “scumbag” — which was that Ted and several other republicans are trying to “scare old people” by vilifying Dr. Fauci. As of Wednesday, Ted believed that it was more important to highlight a video of “Me kicking his ass at hoops.”

So sure, the #HotDogTeddy thing is an immature response to an immature response, but Ted’s response doesn’t make this feud any more mature. Yes, he brought up hoops again while tweeting, “So, ever since I kicked his ass at basketball, @JimmyKimmelLive has been kinda… obsessed. Last night, he put out a really creepy fake picture of me–naked–riding (his?) hot dog.” Then he added a Jeopardy! GIF that showed recent champ Matt Amodio with his “He’s Just Not That Into You” answer.

Ted is both basketball-obsessed and obsessed with continuing this feud (while also accusing Kimmel of being obsessed), and yeah, Matt Amodio never asked for any of this. His own driving-people-nuts answering habit doesn’t compare at all to what’s going on with a sitting senator who really wants the attention of a late night host. On Kimmel’s end, he’s continuing the feud for entertainment purposes (and that’s no defense for the hot-dog ‘shop job), yet that doesn’t erase how Ted won’t talk about the political tactics that Kimmel was initially critiquing.

Instead, it’s strangely all about basketball for Ted. And that’s how it’s always been, ever since Cruz elbowed court-clerk colleagues while shouting “my bad!” Ted Cruz thinks he’s a basketball stud, but he’s more theatrical than anything else.

No holiday season is complete without a screening of The Muppet Christmas Carol (I’m sorry for getting “It Feels Like Christmas” stuck in your head, but at the same time, no, I’m not). But for some reason, Michael Caine dancing with Gonzo and Rizzo is nowhere to be found on the list of the most popular holiday movies for every state in America.

Preply looked at search trends to “115 of the highest-rated and highest-grossing holiday movies of all-time, according to Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office Mojo. We then narrowed down the list to the top 25 most-searched-for films and evaluated how popular they were in each state.” They found that Americans love The Nightmare Before Christmas and Home Alone, obviously, but there’s also some wild choices.

I don’t why Alaska loves The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and frankly, I don’t want to know. Other unexpected favorites include Jingle All the Way in Minnesota; Christmas with the Kranks in Nebraska; and so much The Polar Express. I love Tom Hanks, you love Tom Hanks, we all love Tom Hanks, but we don’t have to love everything he does.

There’s no Gremlins or Black Christmas or the aforementioned The Muppet Christmas Carol, but shout out to Colorado, New Hampshire, Utah, and Washington for loving Klaus, a recent and welcome addition to the Christmas canon. Here’s the full map.

(Via Preply)

It just might be Dreamville season again. Only two months after North Carolina Dreamville rapper Lute released his long-awaited second studio album, Gold Mouf, another member of the throwback rap-centric crew has returned with his own comeback project. Inglewood native Cozz, who featured on Gold Mouf alongside Lute, has released his own EP, Fortunate, marking the end of a three-year wait for the follow-up to his 2018 debut album, Effected.

The EP consists of seven songs, including the previously released singles “Fortunate” and “Addicted.” It features production by longtime Dreamville beatmaker Elite, frequent crew colalborator T-Minus, and the group’s team captain J. Cole, as well as a guest appearance by fellow West Coast veteran YG, who appears on “Control Problems.”

Unfortunately, the release had a technical hiccup, resulting in the track order getting mixed up on DSPs. Cozz addressed the issue on Twitter, writing, “No lie I’m frustrated cuz I had an idea of how I want people to hear this ep but technical difficulties ddnt allow that to happen. What’s below is the order so if u care enough, listen as is but if not f*ck it the music is the same. This will be fixed by Friday enjoy. In other words the order is completely wrong on every listening platform.”

Fortunate is out now via Dreamville/Interscope Records. You can stream it here.