Month: February 2022

The Denver Nuggets hold a solid four-game lead on the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 6-seed in the West, which is the final guaranteed playoff position to avoid having to enter the NBA’s play-in tournament. They have managed to make it to 21 games remaining in the season at 36-25 despite being without star guard Jamal Murray for the entire season and star forward Michael Porter Jr. playing just nine games before needing back surgery.

Leading the way is Nikola Jokic, who is backing up his MVP campaign from last year with arguably an even more impressive performance that has him as a co-favorite alongside Joel Embiid for this year’s MVP honors. Jokic is averaging 25.5 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game on 56.7/36.4/80.6 shooting splits, serving as the engine for a Nuggets team that has rather hilarious splits based on whether Jokic is on the floor or not. Around him, Aaron Gordon, Monte Morris, and Will Barton have all stepped into bigger roles to help carry some of the weight placed on Jokic’s shoulders, and the team has reeled off six straight wins dating back before the All-Star break to cement their position in the West playoff chase.

Still, there’s few that would call them a real contender without Murray and Porter Jr., no matter how great Jokic is playing, but there is apparently significant optimism that those reinforcements are coming sooner than later. According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, Murray and Porter Jr. are expected back in time for the playoffs, which would make Denver a very dangerous mid-seed in the West.

And after all this time without them — Murray tore his left ACL last April, and Porter Jr. underwent his third back surgery in late November — sources say there is a strong sense within Denver’s locker room that they’ll both be back in time for the playoffs. If not sooner.

Amick notes that, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Sunday, Porter Jr. is likely to return first, with the expectation that he’ll be doing contact work in the next week with the hopes of being on the court for the Nuggets again some time in March.

As for Murray, Denver is being cautious with their star guard, but there is still strong belief that he can be back come April for the playoffs, as pregame workouts show him ramping up his work to try and be up to speed by the time he returns.

The return of one or both of those players, Murray in particular, would be huge for Denver’s hopes of making some noise in the playoffs, but it remains to be seen what level they will both be at once they get back on the court. It’s hard enough to get back to game speed for a regular season return, but if Murray were to be making his comeback as the playoffs begin, that’s an entirely different level to try and quickly jump back into. In any case, the chief concern for the Nuggets is that they don’t rush either player back and impact their long-term vision, as they are heavily invested in their core of Jokic, Murray, Porter Jr., and Gordon for the next few years. If they can come back and be close to the impact players they have been in the past, though, with the way Jokic is playing you’d be hard-pressed to find teams atop the West standings that would be excited to face Denver in a playoff series.

A driver for Uber Eats says he wants to sue Snoop Dogg after the rapper revealed his personal information on social media during a tirade about a canceled order. Snoop, who had ordered the food to his compound in Inglewood, said that the driver dipped without delivering the food, leaving behind the message that the neighborhood was “not a safe place.” Now, because of the rapper’s video complaining about the supposedly bad service, the driver says he has anxiety and fear for his family’s safety, according to CBS Los Angeles.

“There’s my picture there and also there is my first name,” said the driver, whose name, Sayd, photo, and license plate number both appeared in the video. Sayd, also said, “I contacted the customer many times and I also followed the protocol by the book.” Meanwhile, he was also disappointed in Uber’s response to Snoop’s video, a statement reading “We truly regret Snoop Dogg’s frustrating experience. We have reached out to apologize and refunded him for the order.” Sayd said, “When I read that, I just felt like it’s not fair because I am the one that deserves an apology from Uber Eats, not Snoop.” He has since quit working for Uber Eats.

For what it’s worth, it can be very frustrating to have drivers do the whole “not a safe neighborhood” thing (which happens to me all the time) and from personal experience, the neighborhood Snoop’s compound is in has always seemed relatively safe to me. But it’s not okay to put people’s personal info on the internet, especially considering how bad some of the harassment activity has gotten in recent years (to say nothing of what happened to Pop Smoke when he accidentally revealed his address). While Snoop probably didn’t mean any harm, we should all be just a little more aware when we share social media — and a little more forgiving of “punk-ass” Uber drivers who aren’t used to the ‘hood (get a new job, though, if you that scary).

Unfortunately, for Snoop, Sayd’s case wouldn’t be the only one the rapper faces. Earlier this month, an alleged former employee sued him for sexual assault, although he has asked the court to dismiss the case.

After a video compilation of Joe Rogan frequently using the n-word went viral, Spotify removed 70 episodes of his popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. “I know that to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now,” he said in a video apology before calling the backlash a “political hit job.”

You won’t hear Samuel L. Jackson on a podcast — “I can’t talk for an hour without saying something f*cked up,” he explained — but he discussed Rogan’s comments in an interview with the Times. “He is saying nobody understood the context when he said it,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But he shouldn’t have said it. It’s not the context, dude — it’s that he was comfortable doing it. Say that you’re sorry because you want to keep your money, but you were having fun and you say you did it because it was entertaining.”

It’s a different situation, Jackson contends, than Quentin Tarantino using the word over 100 times in the script for Django Unchained.

“It needs to be an element of what the story is about. A story is context, but just to elicit a laugh? That’s wrong,” he explained. “While we were rehearsing Django Unchained, [Leonardo DiCaprio] said, ‘I don’t know if I can say ‘n*gger’ this many times.’ Me and Quentin said that you have to. Every time someone wants an example of overuse of the n-word, they go to Quentin — it’s unfair. He’s just telling the story and the characters do talk like that. When Steve McQueen does it, it’s art. He’s an artiste.” Jackson, who has defended the Oscar winner in the past, called Tarantino “just a popcorn film-maker.”

You can read the rest of the interview here. But also: Samuel L. Jackson should absolutely start a podcast. I wouldn’t even skip through the ad reads if he’s doing them.

(Via the Times)

Just when you think respected rapper turned curmudgeonly podcaster, Joe Budden, is finally turning over a new leaf, he makes sure to remind you why he’s one of the culture’s most controversial figures. During the same episode of his podcast in which he praised Cardi B as a superstar, he tore down her “WAP” collaborator Megan Thee Stallion, denying her the same appraisal on the basis of album sales — something he never had much of himself.

The question of whether or not hip-hop has any modern superstars was originally broached on Twitter by TDE President Punch, who posited that there might not be any. He was quickly shouted down on that app, though, by fans who pointed out that all the superstars are women, an oft-overlooked segment of hip-hop. However, even as women have taken over with endorsement deals, acting gigs, and a host of business plans, Budden still found a nit to pick with Megan’s outstanding record.

“You’re not a superstar if you can’t sell an album,” he declared. “What the f*ck are we talking about right now? What stops her from being a superstar if we’re taking out sales? She ain’t sold sh*t. Got every brand deal in the world, but also has all the backing from different people. She’s got a lot going on. That’s the game today.”

That’s… a weird way of looking at a Platinum-certified debut, Good News, two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, and a slew of Top 40 singles as both a featured artist and lead artist over the past three years. Of course, this could be just another example of Joe Budden’s decades-long case of sour grapes (and his longstanding issues when it comes to women), but Meg’s resume speaks for itself in this instance.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

UK indie group The Pocket Gods decided to protest Spotify’s royalty rates for artists with 1000X30 – Nobody Makes Money Anymore, an album that, as the title indicates, consists of 1,000 songs that all run for about 30 seconds. Spotify actually caught wind of the project and have since changed some part of how they do things.

Pocket Gods leader Mark Christopher Lee was inspired to take on the project by a 2015 article from The Independent, which ponders the future of music given that royalties are paid on a Spotify stream after a track has been played for at least 30 seconds.

“I saw the article and it made me think, ‘Why write longer songs when we get paid little enough for just 30 seconds,” Lee told i News. He continued, “We wrote and recorded 1,000 songs, each a shade over 30 seconds long for the album. The longest is 36 seconds. It is designed to raise awareness about the campaign for fair royalty rates.”

He also noted his band earns about £0.002 (about a quarter of a US cent) from each Spotify stream of their songs.

The project was first presented earlier this month and Spotify has been paying attention, as Lee now says he was invited to meet with Spotify’s head of artist relations. He said that since the release of the album, the streaming platform has changed one of its rules: “Spotify said we’re ahead of the curve as shorter songs are the future — just look at TikTok. They said that I can pitch 30-second tracks to their playlists for consideration — I wasn’t able to do this previously as the songs were considered too short. So next week I’m releasing a 30-second single called ‘Noel Gallagher Is Jealous Of My Studio.’”

Lee says he was also told songwriters would see increased pay rates when Spotify rolls out an increase in its subscription price.

Hot Press notes The Pocket Gods are used to dropping atypical sorts of albums like this: They’ve released 74 albums since 1998, multiple of which have over 100 tracks.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Doja Cat linking up with an old collaborative pal and Avril Lavigne bringing the modern pop-punk revival full-circle with a new LP. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Tyga and Doja Cat — “Freaky Deaky”

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Tyga, as his last album was 2019’s Legendary. He popped back up in a big way last week by linking up with Doja Cat for “Freaky Deaky,” a smooth tune that serves as the pair’s second collaboration after a 2019 remix of Doja’s “Juicy.”

Earthgang — “Billi” Feat. Future

Earthgang’s profile has increased since their breakout 2019 album Mirrorland, as evidenced by the increase in features on their new LP, Ghetto Gods. One such collaboration is “Billi,” a brief, bouncy, Future-featuring number.

Avril Lavigne — “All I Wanted” Feat. Mark Hoppus

Lavigne recently told Uproxx of collaborating with the Blink-182 member of Love Sux, “It was crazy, even though we worked on Zoom with Mark Hoppus, I was like, ‘Damn, this guy is so talented.’ He was like recording himself, engineering himself, and writing. He was so fast with lyrics and melodies. Obviously, I love their songs, and knew that he was a good songwriter and singer, but to get to see him work in real time, I was really blown away by his talent. I listened to their music when I was younger, so it’s kind of come full circle.”

Kehlani — “Little Story”

Kehlani’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t only just dropped in 2020 but she’s already onto a new album, Blue Water Road. She offered a preview of it, “Little Story,” last week, which Uproxx’s Caitlin White describes, “After the song begins with a more fluid verse, she gets a little more staccato on the chorus, as the song opens up with heavier percussion and closes out with an epic swell of violins.”

Rosalía — “Chicken Teriyaki”

Rosalía has a big professional moment coming up, as she’s set to be the musical guest on the March 12 episode of Saturday Night Live. She’ll have at least one new song to perform, as last week, she dropped “Chicken Teriyaki,” a brief tune designed to get bodies moving.

Florence And The Machine — “King”

Early last week, Florence And The Machine sure made it seem like they were dropping a new song with their cryptic teasers. Indeed, that did end up being the case, as they returned with “King,” a haunting tune driven by drums, tambourine, and Welch’s idiosyncratic vocals.

Gang Of Youths — “Spirit Boy”

In his review of Gang Of Youths’ new album Angel In Realtime, Uproxx’s Steven Hyden writes, “Even at its bleakest — the part in ‘Spirit Boy’ when [David Le] Le’aupepe sings, ‘God died today / and left me in the cold’ qualifies as the single saddest moment — the constant uplift of the music successfully buoys the record.”

Leikeli47 — “BITM”

Masked (not in a CDC-approved way) rapper Leikeli47 last dropped an LP in 2018 with Acrylic, and now she’s returning with Shape Up. That’s set to arrive in April, but before that, she’s shared “BITM,” which Uproxx’s Danielle Chelosky notes “has a daunting, pulsating beat and assertive, whisper-like vocals as she repeats the confident hook.”

Denzel Curry — “Zatoichi” Feat. Slowthai

Zatoichi is fictional blind blademaster who’s the lead in a long-running franchise of Japanese movies and TV shows, and now he’s also part of the Denzel Curry universe. The rapper’s latest single (which features Slowthai, by the way) is named after the protagonist, who he references on the drum and bass-influenced song with lines like, “I’m Zatoichi, leading the blind.”

Central Cee — “Straight Back To It”

Central Cee is in the process of making a name for himself in the UK hip-hop scene, a task at which the West London rapper is performing admirably thus far. His 23 mixtape dropped last week, as did a video for “Straight Back To It,” of which Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli says, “A track about fighting back when you get knocked down, it’s an apt display of the rapper’s commitment to the grind.’

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

WARNING: Spoilers for The Righteous Gemstones below.

The Righteous Gemstones dropped its season finale on Sunday night, and in the process, finally revealed the answer to one of Season 2’s biggest mysteries: Who are the Cycle Ninjas working for? Just as Brian Grubb predicted in his weekly Halo Report — somebody get this guy solving murders — the cycle gang were, in fact, working for Lyle Lisson (Eric Andre). Not only that, but Lisson was also responsible for the murder of snooping journalist Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman) and not Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) as his own children suspected.

The finale also saw the Gemstones come together after being at each other’s throats all season (a recurring theme with this family), and Baby Billy Freeman finally did right by Tiffany and returned after initially abandoning her while she was pregnant with his child. Naturally, this return was followed by the birth of said child who came into this world just like his mother: as a toilet baby.

Unfortunately, all of this was going down at the groundbreaking of the Lisson’s Christian resort where things quickly went south as the Gemstones learned that Lissons tried to have them killed. After a confrontation on the beach that left B.J. with a nasty bullet wound, but more accepted into the family than ever, the Lissons managed to escape, but not for long. Armed with a neon-colored assassin gang of their own, they were tracked down by Martin in Alaska, where the couple was taken out in an amazing and hilarious homage to Young Guns.

With the Lissons out of the picture, the Gemstones now have full control of the Florida resort, and things couldn’t be going better for their filthy rich religious empire. For now.

As for how the finale went over with fans, they freaking loved it. There were also some bold claims that it was season closer was better than the Euphoria finale, but we’re not taking sides on that hot topic. You can see some of the reactions below:

The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 is available for streaming on HBO Max.

The Righteous Gemstones has finished its second round of evangelical mayhem, which might be the prime example of how a show’s cast can have the same amount of fun as the audience while crafting gem after gem. Walton Goggins and Edi Patterson are both absolute delights while gobbling up all of the stage curtains, and the latter previously told us that she signed onto this show before even hearing Danny McBride’s initial vision for the series. When a co-working relationship works, it works, but at home, viewers are probably already wondering when they’ll see more “Misbehavin.’”

Those halos sure do stack up, and the show gives us delightful little surprises like Macauley Culkin outta nowhere, so when will the grand return happen?

Patience, grasshoppers. The show’s pilot aired in August 2019, and then obviously, the pandemic slowed everything down, to the point where we had to wait until January 2022 for Baby Billy and Company to glide back onto our screens. Hopefully, there won’t be as much of a wait next time around. Surely, HBO and McBride want to ride that momentum, given that the show keeps growing in popularity. And although HBO hasn’t pinpointed a precise return date for this show, we do know that a Season 3 is coming.

What we also know is this: Season 2 began filming in March 2020 and shut down after only three days. What followed was an extensive rewriting process, but if one takes out all of the pandemic setbacks, the seasons could have realistically come together in two years. So we can cross fingers for January 2024 or earlier for more. Yep, we’ll want it to arrive faster, but the John Goodman-starring series is always worth the wait.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Big Thief, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

This may strike some as hyperbole but I don’t care because it’s true: As strong as the other Big Thief albums are, they feel like rough drafts for what they’ve finally achieved here. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You already feels like the kind of album that’s destined to be handed down from generation to generation, like Automatic For The People or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It’s music I know I will reach for on epic road trips or in the midst of profound grief. An all-timer. A masterpiece. They really did it this time.

Turns out recording in different places with different engineers — drummer James Krivchenia is listed as the album’s producer — had real impact on the music. The seething Old Testament sermonizing of “Sparrow” has heavy Catskills vibes. The sweeping country rock of “Red Moon” (featuring excellent fiddle playing by Mat Davidson, among the small handful of non-band members appearing on the album) carries with it the dust of the Arizona desert. The stupendous “Simulation Swarm” is classic ’70s L.A. soft rock with one of the best guitar solos on any Big Thief album. The gorgeous title track evinces the restraint and simplicity endemic to their work with long-time producer Dom Monks on the previous records. But honestly, every song here is terrific, which is a minor miracle for a band that sought out to (in guitarist Buck Meek’s words) “lose our minds a bit.”

2. Gang Of Youths, Angel In Realtime

For frontman and singer-songwriter Dave Le’aupepe, Angel In Realtime is nothing less than an act of transfiguration, an attempt to bring back his father — who passed in 2018 at the age of 80 — in the form of impossibly monumental tunes that integrate a kitchen’s sink worth of sounds: chamber pop, U.K. garage, Britpop, hip-hop, and indigenous music native to his family’s Samoan and Māori cultures. Over that music, Le’aupepe opens up the innermost sanctum of his life via lyrics that spin a dense web of autobiography, cultural criticism, self-laceration, and sports references. At times, he adopts his father’s perspective; in other moments, he wonders how he’ll move on without him. It’s so personal that as a listener you feel as though you’re eavesdropping on something you shouldn’t. But then the insistent, driving music inevitably pulls you back into the fray. If Angel In Realtime is not ultimately remembered as the best album of 2022 — though it is certainly in the running for that distinction for what is already stacking up to be a year loaded with potential all-timers — it might very well end up being the most album. There is a lot to chew on here.

3. Animal Collective, Time Skiffs

I don’t know if this record will reach listeners beyond their cult of devotees, but it certainly sounds like an attempt by the animals to leave the wilderness. After two difficult (though in my estimation underrated) records, Time Skiffs is the sequel to Merriweather Post Pavilion that many fans probably would have wanted a decade ago. What do I mean by that? Let’s start with the pair of songs that open the album. They are both bottom-heavy, harmony-rich, and immediate indie-pop songs with grabby choruses in the vein of “My Girls” and “Summertime Girls.” The basslines are slippery and the synths are warm and zippy. It’s pretty much as close to “normal” as Animal Collective gets, and it’s remarkable how much of Time Skiffs colors within those very same lines. As the album unfolds, tracks like “Walker” and “We Go Back” amble along at the same amiable mid-tempo pace. Animal Collective’s music no longer emulates the sonic meltdowns of Brian Wilson’s most drugged-out Smile outtakes. Time Skiffs signals the beginning of their Full House period.

4. Black Country New Road, Ants From Up Here

Are we in the midst of a mid-aughts indie rock revival? I’m not just talking about Animal Collective’s comeback. There is also a growing corps of younger bands who grew up on the expansive sounds of that period — when it was standard to have a half-dozen people in your line-up and nearly as many words in your band name — which until recently seemed to be out of fashion. Take this British band, who emerged last year with their debut, For The First Time, that was lumped in with the crop of ascendent post-punk acts with jagged guitars and talky lead singers. But on this new Ants From Up There, they change course, openly embracing the indie-orchestral sound of grandiose throwbacks like Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise. It’s a surprising and entirely arresting shift that has resulted in one of early 2022’s buzziest indie records. Though it also comes with the news from last month that singer/guitarist Isaac Wood has exited the band. Will a Phil Collins figure emerge to replace this band’s departed Peter Gabriel? We shall see.

5. String Machine, Hallelujah Hell Yeah

This Pittsburgh band has a lower profile at the moment than Black Country, New Road, but they might ultimately have a more stable future. Their just-released new album, Hallelujah Hell Yeah, also evokes the earnest emotionalism and large-band arrangements of the mid-aughts. But whereas BCNR’s music often takes on a dark, sinister edge, Hallelujah Hell Yeah is full of sunny melodies and insistent hooks. At just 27 minutes, it’s also the kind of album that you feel compelled to spin again immediately once it’s over. I suspect that Hallelujah Hell Yeah will be a word of mouth hit as the year unfolds.

6. The War On Drugs, Live in St. Paul, Feb. 15-16

Having seen the band more than a half-dozen times over the course of a decade — and after digging deep into their bootlegs — I am confident in declaring that they have never played better than they are right now. The shows in St. Paul found them in an enviable sweet spot — the performances were focused and powerful, and the camaraderie between the band and the audience was funny and celebratory. Along with the “Against The Wind” bust out, the birthday show was distinguished by a pizza being delivered to Adam on stage, which he then gifted to the band’s lighting director. That was after an epic balloon drop during the set’s cathartic high point, “Under The Pressure.” It all felt simultaneously tight and loose. Like The E Street Band, each member of The War On Drugs now has a recognizable persona — Hartley is the stoic consigliere situated to Granduciel’s immediate right, drummer Charlie Hall is the kimono-clad showman, keyboardist Robbie Bennett is the swaying creator of synth-y moods, multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez are the invaluable utility fielders, and new touring musician Eliza Hardy Jones is the Patti Scialfa figure.

7. Kurt Vile, “Like Exploding Stones”

Since I’m talking about The War On Drugs, I must also mention that a new Kurt Vile record, (Watch My Moves), is set to drop in April. This is the first single, and it’s a perfect slice of mid-period KV — a slow-motion reverie that drifts in like a THC-fueled dream and yet never overstays its welcome. There’s also that awesome part when Kurt drawls, “Welcome to the KV horror drive-in movie marathon.” Hell yeah. We can’t wait to dive into the rest of the record.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

We live in a society where The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been turned into a gritty drama, How I Met Your Mother is now How I Met Your Father (“So, Poochie…?”), and Kelsey Grammer still thinks his Frasier reboot is a good idea even without David Hyde Pierce’s involvement, so it’s inevitable that The Office will come back in some form.

NBC is “standing by” for whenever inspiration strikes co-creator Greg Daniels, but he warned Collider about the dangers of trying to replicate the success of The Office… again. “[The Office] was such a wonderful and rare experience that obviously you don’t want to just go back to it and kind of possibly disappoint people when right now, they couldn’t be happier about it,” he said. But let’s say, hypothetically, he were to make a reboot. What would it look like? Something like The Mandalorian, apparently:

“I can’t tell whether fans would want more of it, and when I say more of it, I don’t think it would be the same characters. I think it would just be sort of like an extension of the universe, you know what I mean, like the way [The] Mandalorian is like an extension of Star Wars. But I don’t know if that would be something people would want or not, it’s hard to tell.”

The Office tried to do a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series with season nine’s “The Farm,” but it was not a success. You know why? Not enough Baby Yoda. Get that green rugrat on a cross-country road trip with Erin as she looks for a new receptionist gig, and folks, you’ve got yourself a successful reboot of The Office.

(Via Collider)