Month: May 2022

The Sacramento Kings picked Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown as the next head coach of their franchise. Brown, who is still in the midst of serving on Steve Kerr’s staff during the Warriors’ playoff run and filled in as acting head coach against the Memphis Grizzlies while Kerr has battled COVID-19, will be tasked with ending the longest active postseason drought in the league, as Sacramento hasn’t made it out of the regular season since 2005-06.

As it turns out, Brown won’t exactly have a ton of time to build around the core of the roster that went 30-52 last season. According to NBA journalist Marc Stein, the Kings wanted two things in whomever would be their next coach. One was that the person they hired would keep former player Doug Christie around as an assistant coach.

The other: Sacramento’s front office wants to end that playoff drought right away.

“Candidates were told that team officials are counting on a Minnesota-esque surge in the standings in Year 1 after a league-record 16 consecutive seasons out of the playoffs,” Stein wrote. “The Wolves went 46-36 in Chris Finch’s first full season on the bench to secure just the club’s second playoff berth in an 18-season span.”

A pretty major difference between Finch’s job in Minnesota and what Brown is being asked to do is that Finch was hired midseason in 2020-21 and got some time to figure his team out before they made a run in 2021-22. The Timberwolves went 16-25 in Finch’s first half of a season in charge, then rolled into this past season ready to go. Brown, meanwhile, won’t get to be around his team until Golden State’s season is over.

This past season, the Kings finished four games out of the play-in race in the Western Conference. Brown has plenty of coaching experience — he has been at the helm of both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers, and is the head coach of the Nigerian national team.

Last week was a bad one for cryptocurrency. A scene that was already rickety got worse, with numerous digital currencies plummeting. Bitcoin, that market’s most valuable crypto, which was worth nearly $70,000 last November, dipped below $30,000 on Wednesday. Amidst the turmoil, many remembered ads from the Super Bowl in February in which no less than Matt Damon was hawking for the dodgy currency. How can Damon and other celebs who shilled for crypto regain the public’s trust? Well, another actor has an idea.

That person is Ben McKenzie, alum of The O.C. and current Gotham star, who’s made crypto — and the famous people telling cash-strapped plebeians to invest in it — a target of his ire. After crypto’s terrible week, McKenzie reached out to the likes of Damon, Reese Witherspoon, Kim Kardashian, and more, with some advice on how to rebound.

“Free advice for celebs who have profited from crypto: disclose how much you were paid, say you are sorry, and give the money to victims of crypto fraud,” McKenzie tweeted. “Career saved.”

If that didn’t motivate him, McKenzie later tweeted, he pointed out that the money they got to pitch for crypto may not stay secret forever. “Oh, and given enough time, we’re probably gonna find out how much money you were paid anyway,” he wrote. “Just in case you want a little extra motivation to do the right thing.”

Last fall, McKenzie co-wrote a piece for Slate where he slammed the rich and famous who were advertising for crypto, calling it a “moral disaster.” He also jokingly (but not that jokingly) attacked celebs who were shilling both crypto and NFTs, which are also not doing so hot. “I’m just a former teen idol standing here (alone?) asking people to consider downside risk and the possibility of fraud,” McKenzie wrote in February. “I hope I’m wrong, but pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough. Good luck folks – don’t take financial advice from celebs, including me.”

Despite the long list of albums, mixtapes, and more that fill up his discography, it took Future well over a decade to earn his first No. 1 song as a lead artist. That feat came earlier this week when “Wait For U” with Tems and Drake debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. The song is a highlight on Future’s ninth album I Never Liked You, which he released at the end of last month. Days after “Wait For U” reached No. 1, Future hopped on Twitter to praise Tems and share how the song came together.

“Soon as I heard the @temsbaby sample over @atljacobbeatz Instantly connected to my soul,’ he wrote in one tweet. Tems’ vocals on “Wait For U” are actually a sample from her 2020 song “Higher” which lives on her For Broken Ears project. Future continued his praises in later tweets. “@temsbaby VOICE IS AMAZING,” he wrote. In a final post, Future thanked Tems for her contribution to “Wait For U.”

“Even tho wait for u is a sample and not an original recording I still put Featuring @temsbaby if u wasn’t familiar with her work,” he wrote. “Thank u Tems.”

Future’s praises come after he and Drake released a Medieval-themed video for the chart-topping song.

You can view Future’s posts above.

I Never Liked You is out now via Freebandz/Epic Records. You can stream it here.

If you’ve been able to lend an ear to Kendrick Lamar’s newly-released fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, you were probably a bit taken aback by the album’s content. With that, it leaves us to wonder what visuals for songs on the album would look like once they’re released. Well, just a day after the album’s arrival, Kendrick has released the first video from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, that being for “N95.”

The visual is a cinematic affair, one that begins with Kendrick in an all-white garment as he floats above the ocean water. Throughout the video, he works out on a rooftop, plays the piano, dances and does donuts in a car with Baby Keem, watches a car crash into a row of chairs beside him, and much more.

Thanks to the video for “N95,” we now have an idea of when the song was completed, and even when Kendrick got going on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Towards the end of 2020, Kendrick was photographed shooting what many believed was a music video at the time. He was seen rocking tan shorts and a fresh pair of Chucks while sitting on a plastic crate. That same outfit and scene can be found in the visual for “N95” at the 2:32 mark. This is worth noting as Kendrick admits to struggling with writer’s block for two years on “Worldwide Steppers.”

The visual for “N95” arrives after Apple Music announced that Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers earned the most first-day streams for an album released in 2022 on the platform.

You can watch the video for “N95” above.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky’s first child will probably arrive in the new few weeks. All eyes have been on the celebrity couple since they kicked off 2022 with the announcement of Rihanna’s pregnancy. Since then, we’ve received pictures of Rihanna happily flaunting her baby bump, comments from Rocky and Rihanna about the couple’s relationship, and details about their “rave-themed” baby shower. Ahead of the birth of his first child, Rocky stopped by the Drink Champs podcast where he opened up about his relationship with Rihanna.

During the conversation, Rocky took a moment to shine a light on co-host N.O.R.E. and commend his decade-long marriage to Neri Santiago, which was documented through WE TV’s Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition. “I could see the realness between both of y’all and sh*t like that and I could really tell, like, y’all been through some sh*t together, y’all been through a journey and it’s real. It’s not fabricated, it’s actually real,” Rocky said. “And that’s what I aspire to keep, just genuine real sh*t, just f**k what the outside world got going on, f**k what the outside world think and sh*t like that. It’s really about an understanding between two components, you and your significant other.”

Rocky’s comments come after he dropped “D.M.B.,” which came with a music video that featured Rihanna herself.

You can watch the clip from Drink Champs in the video above.

Let’s face it, everyone is listening to the new Kendrick Lamar album. The Compton rapper made the world wait five years after Damn., before he dropped the already monumental accomplishment that is Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers this past Friday. The album officially had the most first-day streams for any album in 2022 on Apple Music, and even your Mom knows a factoid about it that she probably texted you with a bunch of emojis. So it’s only fitting that the NBA’s favorite Dad, LeBron James, is bumping that new Kendrick as well.

And not only is LeBron fully locked in to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but he posted a minute and a half video on his Instagram Stories of himself vibing the heck out to it. The first part of the multi-part clip sees LeBron dancing in his backyard to “Mirror,” the last song on the album. “@KendrickLamar VIBES!!! SO TOUGH [fire emojis],” he commented on the first clip. He dances with reckless abandon, rocking a durag and a Spring Hill Entertainment T-shirt (his media company). Then, the video just keeps going, and LeBron? Well, he just keeps dancing, this time to “Rich Spirit.” We see a very extra crown statue in the background and his dance moves just start to melt together into a fairly cringe-y and totally emo display.

Props to LeBron for being vulnerable and giving absolutely zero f*cks. But as they do, the haters have thoughts.

Say what you will, but at least he didn’t try to sing any of the lyrics.

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia on drug charges for several months. Authorities in Russia have alleged that Griner, who has spent her WNBA offseason playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014, had vape pods that included cannabis oil among her belongings as she attempted to make her way through an airport earlier this year, and as a result, the seven-time WNBA All-Star faces up to 10 years in prison.

On Friday, Griner’s lawyer Alexander Boykov announced that the pretrial detention in which she’s been held has been extended by a month, something that he believes could mean that the case will go to trial soon per the Associated Press. But in the aftermath of that announcement, the WNBPA posted a statement to its Twitter account to call on the White House, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris to do whatever it takes to return Griner back to the United States.

“Today’s news on Brittney Griner was not unexpected, and the WNBA continues to work with the U.S. government to get BG home safely and as soon as possible,” the WNBA said in a statement in the aftermath of the announcement.

The Biden administration has indicated in the past that it believes Griner is being wrongfully detained, and following Friday’s news, a State Department spokesperson said that members of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were in touch with her earlier in the day. Griner, per the spokesperson, “is doing as well as can be expected in these circumstances.”

While the tireless FKA Twigs doesn’t have a significant acting role under her belt yet, she’s recently touched into silver screen consciousness with her song, “Measure Of A Man” (featuring British rapper Central Cee) for the soundtrack to The King’s Man. She’s no stranger to being front and center of music videos, like on her thorough list of recent clips for songs off of her excellent Caprisongs mixtape. But now she’s making a full-on foray into acting, with a co-starring role in the reboot of The Crow.

The film stars Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård, who has been portraying Pennywise in the It reboot series. Ghost In The Shell and Snow White And The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders is at the helm of the project. And let’s be honest, FKA Twigs’ unflinching aura of mystique is perfect for the classic macabre story about revenge.

“I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be appearing alongside bill skardsgård [sic] in the crow directed by Rupert Sanders,” she said on Instagram. “I feel so honoured to be amongst such a powerful team and am already having the best time working on my character lewks with the iconic @kurtandbart2.”

A cult classic, The Crow is based on James O’Barr’s graphic novel series. The original film adaptation featured Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee’s son) in the titular role. Lee suffered a tragic death during the filming of the 1994 film when a prop gun accidentally went off on the set. Back in April, NME reported that the reboot of The Crow was finally in development.

FKA Twigs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Perhaps had she been married to another president, Melania Trump would have regularly graced magazine covers as a beloved First Lady. Unfortunately she’s married to Donald Trump, a chaotic and deeply unpopular world leader who still won’t publicly admit he lost re-election. Surely there are worse indignities than never being on the cover of Vogue, but clearly the snub still gets to her.

In a fawning interview with Fox News — her first since her husband’s one-term presidency ended in violence and disgrace — reporter Pete Hegseth played into her sense of victimization, asking how she weathered “the constant criticism” for four long years, and how that was only exacerbated by her being ignored by fashion magazines.

“Take Vogue, for example: Five months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Jill Biden’s on the cover,” Hegseth told her. “Kamala Harris is on the cover before she’s even sworn in. Hillary Clinton was on the cover when she was first lady. Michelle [Obama] was on the cover three times. Yet with your business background and your fashion background and your beauty, never on the cover of Vogue. Why the double standard?”

“They’re biased and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious. And I think American people and everyone sees it,” Melania replied. Besides, she was busy. “It was their decision, and I have much more important things to do — and I did in the White House — than being on the cover of Vogue.”

During her stint as First Lady, Melania largely laid low. She rocked interesting fashion choices. She designed nightmarish holiday decorations. She launched an anti-bullying campaign, which seemed a touch oblivious. When her husband’s supporters rampaged through the Capitol building, she reportedly didn’t care. Maybe if Vanity Fair had given her the cover, maybe she would have.

(Via Newsweek)

When Jen Psaki took over as White House press secretary in late January of 2020, she quickly differentiated herself from her Trump-era predecessors. She told the truth. She wasn’t snippy. She didn’t treat journalists like slime. But there was one reporter with whom she had what seemed like a contentious relationship: Fox News’ Peter Doocy. But when Psaki stepped down, headed for a gig at MSNBC, the two made sure to exchange fond farewells.

Doocy posted a picture of he and Psaki posing together, all smiles. “End of an era in the Brady briefing room! Good luck, @psaki,” he wrote. (Worth noting is that Doocy is a full foot taller than Psaki.)

As for Psaki, at an event on Thursday, she was asked if she’ll miss Doocy, who could always be counted on to ask a heated question that she’d often shoot down. “I will,” she replied. “I will tell you, and people know this who are covering the White House every day, I think we have a very good, professional relationship.”

She continued: “I understand that he’s coming there to ask questions every day that are important to report in the outlet he works for, and I respect that … We have healthy debates and discussions. Doesn’t mean I agree with his line of questioning on most days.”

Psaki also pointed out that she “called on him every day he’s been there,” adding that doing so was a way of “sending the message to the country that we’re not focused here on a fight with Fox.”

During her 15 months on the job, Psaki managed to hold more press conferences than all of Trump’s press secretaries combined. Her squabbles with Doocy often made news, with her sharply debunking some of his Republican talking points, even scoring the occasional big laugh.

(Via Insider)