“[Rap beef] is really corporate now,” Pusha T says in between bites of hot sauced-covered chicken wings during his appearance on the popular interview show Hot Ones. The question he’s been asked by unflappable host Sean Evans is, “What would you say is the biggest difference between how diss tracks were exchanged 20 years ago versus today and why is still important who wins?”
Pusha would know; he’s been keeping a running feud going with Lil Wayne for nearly 20 years himself (over a hoodie, no less), pulling in Wayne’s protege Drake and outing the latter as the father of a secret child in 2018. Continuing to share his thoughts, he elaborates that “Now, you’ll have a rap beef and the record label gets involved. The CEOs are like, ‘Whoa! You can’t do this to my artist!’ I don’t think they end careers anymore, because people don’t have the same pride level about the art.”
He also thinks it’s less important who wins, because “Back in the day it was career-ending… Nowadays, people don’t care. They’re like, ‘Oh well, they lost today. No big deal.’”
And okay, I’m sorry, all due respect to Push but as the resident hip-hop historian, I gotta say GTFOHWTBS. 20 years ago, Jay-Z and Nas held a knock-down, drag-out rhyme fight over the King Of New York title that fans still debate about and neither’s career suffered over it. In fact, both became more popular, with Nas’ “Ether” arguably revitalizing his standing with fans after a pair of lukewarm releases to close out the ’90s. And if my man is talking about the 50 Cent/Ja Rule thing, it’s important to remember that Ja Rule’s label was shut down by the freaking FBI.
No one’s career was ever buried by a rap beef. Since the beginning, battle was an integral part of the genre; if there’s any culprit to blame for rappers’ short-lived careers, it’s fickle fans and quickly evolving musical tastes. Of course, the highest-profile rap beef with the highest stakes wasn’t even about rap, which explains why it came to such a tragic end — which, contrary to conspiracy theories that float around the internet to this day, had little to do with the rules of engagement in hip-hop.
Pusha’s entitled to his opinion but at the end of the day, the narrative of rap beefs ending careers is just that: a narrative. As a matter of course, these things are always much more nuanced than we tend to idealize them as with our nostalgia glasses on. Anyway, for Pusha’s latest beef, check out his McDonald’s diss track “Spicy Fish Diss,” which he made in conjuction with Arby’s. How’s that for corporate?
The visual will include a completely unreleased song from Rodrigo, as well as first takes and recording footage from the making of the songs her fans already know and love. We’ve already seen a few different clips from the film, including a lengthy trailer, but today Olivia is exclusively sharing a brief snippet that gives us a look at her first take recording the vocals for one of the album’s best songs, “Brutal.” Keep an ear out for an earlier version of a lyric about exploitation, and also note the extremely supportive encouragement of produce Dan Nigro.
Olivia looks directly into the camera and lets everyone know that she and Dan wrote the song yesterday, before launching into her initial recording of the tune. Check out the snippet up top and keep an eye out for the visual to hit the Disney Plus streaming platform at midnight tonight.
In a few months, Courtney Barnett is going on tour, but she’s taking a novel approach. Instead of a traditional sort of tour, Here And There is a touring festival. So, each night, she will be joined by a different handful of artists from an impressive and large pool of them.
Announcing @heretherefest – a touring festival coming to 15 cities in North America, with a different line up in every city.
Participating on various North American dates in August and September are Alvvays, Arooj Aftab, Bartees Strange, Bedouine, Caroline Rose, Chicano Batman, Ethel Cain, Faye Webster, Fred Armisen, Hana Vu, Indigo De Souza, Japanese Breakfast, Julia Jacklin, Leith Ross, Lido Pimienta, Lucy Dacus, Men I Trust, Quinn Christopherson, Sleater-Kinney, Snail Mail, The Beths, Waxahatchee, and Wet Leg.
Barnett says of the event:
“When I was a kid, I would make mixtapes and dream up my own festivals. I’d even design the t-shirts and pair up musicians for iconic collaborations. I’d listen to the mixtape and pretend it was the live recording of a concert, all my favorite artists on stage together. Ten years ago, I wrote this lyric: ‘I got lost somewhere between here and there, I’m not sure what the town was called.’ Whether that was meant to be interpreted as a geographical, emotional or philosophical journey, I thought it was the perfect title for my roaming festival.
This concept was something that remained floating in the back of my mind when I started playing music. Here And There feels like a natural culmination of energy after years of touring, and ten years of working on my label Milk! Records. It’s something I’ve been forever daydreaming about, and part of an always evolving project to share spaces and build new platforms for art and artists that I believe in.
It’s always been important to me to share the stage with people that I admire and artists that inspire me, which is why I’m so excited and grateful to announce this amazing lineup.”
Check out the full list of Here And There dates, with nightly lineups, below.
08/08 — Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
Courtney Barnett
Lucy Dacus
Quinn Christopherson
08/09 — St. Louis, MO @ The Factory
Courtney Barnett
Lucy Dacus
Quinn Christopherson
Ice-T had people rolling on the floor after the rapper/actor dropped a humorous tweet lamenting gas prices. In the anecdote, which initially starts out with a somber admission that Ice-T was “robbed at a gas station last night,” the Law and Order star proceeds to break down the aftermath of the “robbery.” Of course, the first red flag that something was amiss is Ice-T said his hands were “trembling,” which seems out of character for the badass rapper, and that’s because it never happened. The whole thing was a setup for his gas price punchline.
“I was robbed at a gas station in NJ last night,” Ice-T tweeted. “After my hands stopped trembling.. I managed to call the cops and they were quick to respond and calmed me down….. My money is gone.. the police asked me if I knew who did it.. I said yes.. it was pump number 9…”
I was robbed at a gas station in NJ last night. After my hands stopped trembling..I managed to call the cops and they were quick to respond and calmed me down….. My money is gone.. the police asked me if I knew who did it..I said yes.. it was pump number 9…
Within hours, Ice-T’s tweet went viral as it racked up almost 100,000 likes at the time of this writing and instantly made the rapper trend on Twitter as the reactions started pouring in. People were either dying with laughter at the joke or feeling Ice-T’s pain at the cost of gas.
You can see some of the reactions below:
I was wondering how this tweet was going to end, thinking “who’s dumb enough to rob Ice T”, then boom
Had me going there for a minute Mr. ICE T. I thought who the hell is brave enough to do that. But then I kept reading and had a good laugh. pic.twitter.com/kVNEYbxZDR
Of course, the gas prices are market forces reacting to the Russia invasion of Ukraine, but if you think Ice-T is pushing for a quick end to that problem, think again. The rapper/actor is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and is all for avoiding a global conflict.
“Here’s the Situation: As soon as the US fires ONE bullet at a Russian solider. From the Ground or Air…. WE are at War with Russia,” Ice-T tweeted at the beginning of March. “Not good.”
Here’s the Situation: As soon as the US fires ONE bullet at a Russian solider. From the Ground or Air…. WE are at War with Russia. Not good. pic.twitter.com/PgEA8LBUtg
Juice WRLD was a well-known gamer in his life; fans know he was tapped in with Faze Clan, regularly expressed his love for games, and even paid homage to classic games with his music throughout his career, including on the Twisted Metal-inspired cover of his Death Race For Love album. Likewise, the gaming community reciprocated his love, with streamers regularly playing his music and expressing their grief for his death in 2018. Now, it appears the late rapper could receive one of the ultimate honors, being put into one of the most popular modern games as a player skin.
Juice’s former manager, Peter Jideonwo, posted a video to social media that has since circulated on Twitter via hip-hop-focused accounts saying that he is currently in talks with Epic Games, the publisher of the popular shooter game Fortnite, to get the rapper into the game. “(We) really need Juice WRLD in Fortnite,” he said. “We’ve been trying our hardest, and that’s also a work in progress… It would be cool because everyone in Fortnite loves Juice and ‘Come And Go’ was a huge hit in Fortnite. I think it fits. So if y’all wanna go hit up Epic Games and Fortnite, y’all should definitely do that too.”
Juice WRLD’s former manager shares they’re in conversation with Fortnite about getting Juice in the game pic.twitter.com/Yc9bB90wQR
A photo of a purported player skin representing Juice WRLD has been circulating since, with fans speculating that the rapper could be joining the game soon, but apparently, the photo in question is just fan-made concept art. Should Juice join the game, he’ll be the third rapper after Travis Scott and Anderson .Paak, who was added as part of the duo Silk Sonic alongside his groupmate Bruno Mars. Last year, the game also added LeBron James as a playable skin.
this is NOT the official juice wrld fortnite skin. this was a concept art made back in 2021 by a youtuber. juice wrld’s team hasn’t even had the meeting with epic yet to start discussing a skin and or whatever else they have in mind. so we won’t see anything for awhile yet. pic.twitter.com/1lyEiawnGl
Meanwhile, another rapper was recently added to a different popular shooter; Snoop Dogg, who previously collaborated with Call Of Duty to provide his voice, will be added to three of the franchise’s current games as an operator with special equipment.
The return of Bridgerton is upon us, and the show needed to change course, given that the first season’s leading man, Regé-Jean Page as the Duke, has (as planned) left the building. The good news is that the Regency-era series still maintains momentum as it rolls through a new courting season. You’re probably wondering who these two new main characters are, though? Actually, only one of them is new to this on-screen universe, and it’s worth reading first-season refresher before getting ready to enjoy the followup’s soundtrack. Also, let’s talk about these two lead characters.
Netflix
Lord Anthony Bridgerton: He wasn’t the most endearing character last season, for sure. Anthony (portrayed by Jonathan Bailey) is the eldest male Bridgerton sibling, and last time around, he nearly ruined every chance for Daphne to find a suitor. He also enjoyed an extended affair (he was quite randy with a young woman named Siena Rosso), but she was unsuited to becoming a viscountess. We learn a lot more about Anthony this season, though. He gets more of a backstory and not only ends up pulling a Mr. Darcy in the lake but bears enormous responsibility and doesn’t have the luxury of thinking about himself but more about his duty. And that doesn’t seem terribly romantic, especially as observed by the leading lady, Kate.
Netflix
Kate Sharma: Portayed by Simone Ashley, Kate’s supposed spinster (hmm) who arrives from India to watch over her sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran). Kate isn’t thrilled with how Anthony doesn’t seem truly interested in love while he courts Edwina, and of course, one can see from a fortnight away with where this is going. Her story is one that dredges up some deeper statements about social stature, which adds more texture and seriousness than this show has grown accustomed to showing. This is a welcome change, but it’s important to note that the show’s overarching frivolity still takes center stage. Also, there’s plenty of chemistry between Anthony or Kate, but it’s a slow burn. This season takes its time, but there is a payoff.
Back in January, rapper Pusha T shared a picture of Lana Del Rey, with her face obscured by what appeared to be cocaine. Fans in the Instagram comments assumed he was beginning to tease new music. Weeks later, he would release “Diet Coke” ahead of his upcoming fourth album, reportedly titled It’s Not Dry Yet.
While fans were elated to get some new music from King Push, many were still perplexed at the bizarre photo.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Push clarified that he posted the picture as he believes he and Del Rey talk about similar subjects in her music.
“You can hear remnants of drug indulgence and addiction [in Del Rey’s music],” Push said. “So it’s like, ‘Man, why not?’ I thought it made sense.”
Push continued, saying a collaboration with the “Yayo” singer isn’t completely out of the question.
“One of the heads of Interscope called right after the picture came out and asked me to get on a remix,” he said. “I forgot which song, but I’m still waiting for them to send it over.”
Half of Push’s upcoming album is produced by Pharrell Williams, who decided to contribute to the album after hearing “Hear Me Clearly” from Nigo’s upcoming mixtape, I Know Nigo. “Fun Fact: @pharrell heard this song and told me ‘it’s cool, but I don’t want you to be a mixtape rapper for the rest of your life,’” said Push in an Instagram post. “I was devastated. He then flew me to Miami and proceeded to produce the first half of the best album of the year.”
After going on an anti-MGK rant against Lollapalooza for putting his name in the small print, Massachusetts rapper Joyner Lucas is now blaming the tweetstorm on outside influences, claiming that his account was taken over by Russian hackers after deleting the tweets in question. Lucas’ tweets mystified, befuddled, or outright amused fans yesterday when he unexpectedly burst out with slams against the Chicago-based festival.
“These festivals is gon stop playing with me like I ain’t that n****,” he wrote. Putting my name next to the names of a bunch of random n****z that nobody heard of and offering me a weak ass . Then I say no to the offer and these hoe ass n****z put me on the flier anyways. @lollapalooza.” Later in the rant in question, he took a jab at one of Lollapalooza’s headliners, Cleveland rapper-turned-punk-rocker Machine Gun Kelly, posting a photo of Kelly and writing, “Then you got this goofy ass nigga headlining? Smh how sway?”
Today, though, all of those tweets disappeared, replaced by a new one. “Them Damn Russian hackers dun hacked my phone yesterday smh,” Joyner claimed.
Them Damn Russian hackers dun hacked my phone yesterday smh
Look, we’re not totally sure why Russian hackers would want to hack Joyner Lucas’ phone, of all people, just to diss Lollapalooza and MGK. It doesn’t look like fans are buying it either, finding it more likely that Lucas’ tweets got a different reception than perhaps he was expecting — or that the Lollapalooza bag is indeed undeniable. As an independent rapper, Joyner has fewer bridges to burn so maybe this is a way for him to save face — either that or those Russian hackers are getting really good at doing pissed-off rapper impressions.
Bill Murray has been around in Hollywood for a while, so you know he has some good stories. He is finally ready to tell some of them, though he isn’t going to just give out his tales without making his fans work for them. He has decided to jump on the ever-growing NFT train and launch his own collection.
The Official Bill Murray NFT 1000 will have its own one-of-a-kind graphic of the prolific actor accompanied by a unique story as told by Murray himself. The actor has partnered with the site The Chive for the NFT collection, which consists of behind-the-scenes stories that he exclusively told the site, featuring art by David Grizzle. The Chive co-founder John Resig said:
I asked Bill’s thoughts about all the Bill Murray stories swirling about. Bill gave a surprisingly candid answer, ‘I like them just fine, I was even present for a few.’ Bill leaned in with that mischievous twinkle in his eye, ‘But there are more stories out there, better storied. I asked Billy why he hadn’t decided to tell them, to fill in the missing pieces of the mythology? ‘The timing has never been right, nor has the storytelling vehicle. I don’t want to film a documentary or write an autobiography. Social media is for the birds. Still, I wish most people would understand how much I like fresh eggs, laid daily.’
While his NFTs actually have an interesting premise, the number of celebs trying to get normal people to shell out massive amounts of money on NFTs is…alarming. By the looks of Murray’s 2014 Blackberry Classic, it seems like he has no idea how the technology actually works, and probably just thought the idea was cool. Fair, but whatever happened to some good, old-fashioned merch, guys?
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Based on a best-selling book of the same name, this epic, generations-spanning saga follows a Korean family on an immigration journey, with the action taking place in Korea, Japan, and America. Looking for a well-reviewed, emotionally moving series that starts with a forbidden romance? Of course you are. Watch it on Apple TV.
A pirate comedy starring Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby, Leslie Jones, and Hodor from Game of Thrones? Don’t mind if I do. Our Flag Means Death is about an 18th-century aristocrat (Darby) who gives up whatever aristocrats do to become a swashbuckler alongside Blackbeard (Waititi). If it’s anything like What We Do in the Shadows but with pirates, prepare to be… Hook-ed. Watch it on HBO Max.
A podcast. A documentary. A book. And soon, a feature-length film. There’s a reason Hollywood can’t get enough of Elizabeth Holmes, the fraudster who scammed millions and left a black mark on Silicon Valley – one likely in the shape of a Steve Jobs-esque turtle neck. Con artists sell, especially when they’re young, white women promising inventions meant to save millions of lives, and Holmes’ story is bigger, ballsier, and more unbelievable than most. Hulu’s The Dropout does a good job of retracing the most important plot points: the creation of Theranos, the realization that Holmes’ at-home blood-testing concept wouldn’t work, the delusional sense of grandeur that pushed her to criminally defraud every from Bernie Madoff to Henry Kissinger and Walgreens, and the very public downfall that would follow. But what the show really excels at is digging under the skin of a megalomaniac in-training, tasking a top-of-her-game Amanda Seyfried with turning Holmes’ most incomprehensible actions into ones we can empathize with, balancing her hollow sense of ambition with the very real anxieties and societal pressures she faced as a 20-something woman trying to start her own company. The Dropout is a wild, bloody, drama-filled train that always feels like it’s teetering on the edge of the track … but that’s kind of what we want, right? Watch it on Hulu.
We are going back in time, again, this time to the 1970s, again, to see the dawn of an erotic magazine made specifically for women. That sounds fun. It also co-stars Jake Johnson from New Girl as a seedy pornographer who wears shirts unbuttoned halfway to his navel, which sounds… really fun. Worth a shot, at the very least. Watch it on HBO Max.
Do you enjoy Big Mouth, the Netflix animated series where a bunch or horny teens are mentored and/or terrorized by teams of very literal fur-covered hormone monsters, some of whom are voiced by Nick Kroll and Maya Rudolph and David Thewlis? You probably do, because Big Mouth is awesome. And now it has this spinoff, which focuses exclusively on the hormone monsters working in their office behind the scenes. It’s a fun idea, made by people who are good at this. That’s all you can really ask for sometimes. Watch it on Netflix.
Jared Leto is doing his Jared Leto thing in this biopic about the meteoric rise (and shocking downfall) of WeWork founder Adam Neumann. And by that we mean he’s wearing a ton of prosthetics, sporting an indiscernible European accent, and spouting off instantly iconic one-liners. Anne Hathaway’s here too, fighting for dominance in a patriarchal start-up world, but if anything got us to buy into the hype of this latest scammer-saga it’s Leto’s declaration: “I am a Golden Goose laying golden eggs!” No really, that is an actual line he says in the show. Watch it on Apple TV.
“Am I livestock?” Who among us hasn’t asked ourselves that question while grazing amongst the cubicles at work? But the workplace in Severance (a new Adam Scott starring and Ben Stiller produced Apple TV+ series) is a little different, running workers through a process that effectively breaks people in two with zero crossovers between their work life and non-work life. Sound ideal in a world where work stresses bleed into home life and Sunday scarys seem to always kneecap your weekend? Perhaps in some respects. Susan from HR probably LOVES the idea, seeing it as the ultimate NDA, but as the show is set to explore, it’s a less tidy experience that raises all kinds of questions about what happens when people are severed from the awful things they might be asked to do at work. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
Audiences can’t get enough of space-bound conflict these days, and the ever-morphing Pablo Schreiber leads this cast as the indispensable “Master Chief,” who’s apparently the deadliest weapon in existence and the key to ensuring humanity’s survival against all odds. Expect a ton of action as humanity battles “the Covenant,” but more importantly, get ready to meet characters from all walks of life. Clearly too, this selection will be of interest to the gaming crowd. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
If you think about it, Winning Time (HBO’s new Adam McKay-produced series about the 1980s LA Lakers) has all the elements of a classic heist movie. Assembled by a larger than life fast talker with equally big ambitions (in this case, former Lakers owner Jerry Buss), a rag-tag group comes together, leaning on their exceptional and unique talents to paper over any personality conflicts that might arise while taking the thing (a whole mess of gold trophies) no one thought they’d ever get their hands on. This while having some wild misadventures along the way. We’re simplifying, of course, but the point is this should appeal to basketball fans and non-basketball fans alike, earning the right to be the most buzzed-about piece of basketball culture crossover content since The Last Dance helped us all stave off boredom for a few months by telling the story of another mismatched group of big personalities and champions. Watch it on HBO.
Abbott Elementary has done something wild. It poked through the bubble of pop culture to become a phenomenon despite being a weekly network sitcom in 2022. Do you understand how crazy that is? Do you understand the odds against this happening? It’s basically impossible. And yet, here we all are, talking about Quinta Brunson and her very sweet, very good show. And Principal Ava. We are always talking about Principal Ava. Watch it on Hulu.
The bad news, for enthusiasts of The Duke, is that Regé-Jean Page isn’t back this season (as planned), but the good news is that the show still brings the momentum despite the odds. This season focuses upon Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) seeking his own match as outlined by Julia Quinn’s books. Lady Whistledown (already revealed as Penelope, portrayed by Nicola Coughlan) is still doing her thing and f*cking with everyone during her society letters, thank god. Watch it on Netflix.
Well, guess what: Atlanta is back, four years since its second season and just as ready and willing to throw you for a loop. Earn and Paper Boi and Darius are still off in Europe on that tour they were en route to way back then, but there are detours and flights of fancy and all the other weird, stunning, inventive stuff that made (and makes) this one of our greatest shows. Donald Glover and this crew are pretty good at this stuff. It’s great to have them back. Watch it on Hulu.
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(@KodaWRLD999) 
4-Day Tickets on sale today at 12pm CT. 
. Then I say no to the offer and these hoe ass n****z put me on the flier anyways. @lollapalooza.” Later in the rant in question, he took a jab at one of 
(@noahnazz) 
(@Henny_Gawd) 
(@crazybrazy200) 
