Month: July 2022

Alex Jones‘ ex-wife really wants to talk to the January 6 committee. Shortly after the InfoWars host was prominently featured in a video clip shared during Tuesday’s televised hearing, Kelly Jones sent 40 tweets offering to share “insider info” with the congressional body investigating the January 6 insurrection. According to Mediaite, Jones’ ex-wife sent the message at least 40 times in replies and quote tweets all across the social media platform.

“I’m #AlexJones’ ex-wife, & I lost my kids for exposing infowars, even while he was under subsequent Federal Investigation,” Jones tweeted. “I have insider info that I believe is relevant to the #January6thCommitteeHearings. Pls share”

Kelly Jones is clearly striking while the iron is hot. In a new video shared by the January 6 committee, the InfoWars host is featured alongside other right wing media figures who were pumping up MAGA supporters with violent rhetoric ahead of the “Stop the Steal” rally that ended in the U.S. Capitol building being breached in a riot. Via Mediaite:

The committee played a clip of Jones speaking on January 5th at the Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Jones said, “We have only begun to resist the globalists. We have only begun our fight against their tyranny. They have tried to steal this election in front of everyone.”

He added, “We declare 1776 against the new world order.… We need to understand we’re under attack, and we need to understand this is 21st-century warfare and get on a war-footing….”

The odds of Kelly Jones having damaging info are actually pretty high. During their divorce, she managed to overturn a ruling that gave the InfoWars host full custody of their children and only allowed Kelly supervised visits. Her lawyers were able to provide enough compelling evidence that Kelly won physical custody of the kids. In short, there’s a pretty good chance she’s got the goods.

(Via Mediaite)

After teasing clips from his upcoming Amazon Prime Video documentary Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby on Father’s Day, Lil Baby shared the official trailer today. In it, various important figures in the Atlanta rapper’s life from Drake to Quality Control CEO Pierre Thomas to initial benefactor Young Thug, give insights into the young rapper’s rise to stardom. But perhaps the most potent voice in the trailer comes from Lil Baby himself as he recalls his decision to give up street life for rap life.

“After I got locked up again, my perspective changed,” he explains. “America has a system in place and it’s designed for us to fail. It’s a trap. I couldn’t go back to prison, [so] I became an artist with something to say and people to stand for.”

Meanwhile, the above-mentioned influential people for Lil Baby point out impactful he’s been. Drake calls him a “super important part of this generation” and “the truth” to open the trailer while Young Thug remembers telling him “nothing comes out of what you’re doing but prison or death.” P Thomas says Baby “put it all on the line” to pursue his goal of rap stardom, and rapid-fire clips of his newfound life of fame and fortune flash across the screen ahead of the title card as Baby asserts that he’ll “never be trapped again.”

Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 26. Watch the official trailer above.

When KALI began recording the tracks on their sophomore EP Maltman And Effie, they became unintentionally attached to a beige, scaly slug mask. Wearing the mask, which appears on the Maltman And Effie cover art, first started as a gag to disguise social anxiety, but it soon became clear to KALI that it had another meaning. It helped them discover their music was also a mask of sorts; “I began to realize that the songs were more about myself, and my insecurities than they were about the physical circumstances that allowed me to reach this point of introspection,” they said.

But on its surface, Maltman And Effie exudes confidence, particularly for a 17-year-old musician. Lush soundscapes and rich, swirling melodies offer a backbone to KALI’s tender reflections on their teenage years and relationships. The slightly twangy and electrifying “Anybody Else” is a ripping anthem while the poppier and effervescent “Addicted” speaks to the euphoria of a crush. To celebrate the release of Maltman And Effie, KALI sat down with Uproxx to talk their love of Prince, Pixies, and cooking in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Ambitious, Dynamic, Meditative, Athletic.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Rich with details and doesn’t get old. Every time you listen you remind yourself that it still hits as hard as it did in 2022.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

Los Angeles.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

My three closest friends because I am intrigued by the way they each react to different sonic palates and lyrics, specifically when we listen to music in the car, which is probably my favored hangout. I reference my own experiences but also those closest to me when writing, I find that my friends and I are often connected through similar mindsets even when going through different things. Musically, I always have Prince in the back of my mind, he likes to make his instruments talk to one another with as little of them as possible. Although, I’m not sure that my most recent songs would be of his enjoyment, they’re a little dense.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

I have been vegan for 2 years now but when I was 8 or 9 I traveled to Berlin. A piece of well-oiled but toasted brioche with a heap of arugula, wild mushrooms and a runny or scrambled egg. I can’t remember.

What album do you know every word to?

Doolittle by Pixies.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Dr. Dog at the Hollywood Palladium.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Blazer and dress pants with a plain tee. Comfortable yet demanding and easy to move around in.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Perfume Genius.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

“The King” by Sarah Kinsley.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“Synonyms for transportation.”

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

In a bedroom sleeping next to a pair of pet mice.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I’ll get back to you in a few years.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Wilco, D’angelo, Beach House, John Cale.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Supported my making of music.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?

Don’t suppress your instincts.

What’s the last show you went to?

Snail Mail at the Palladium.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

The Squid And The Whale.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

I’m a mean chef.

Maltman And Effie is out now. Get it here.

If you want a silk-voiced R&B up-and-comer to add to your playlists, Bren Joy is a better candidate than most. His profile has been steadily rising since signing with Warner Records in 2020 and at one point or another during the past few years, you might have even caught him opening for artists like Pink Sweat$, Jhené Aiko, and Megan Thee Stallion.

For Joy, it all started in his home of Nashville. Now, for his latest performance — as part of Uproxx and T-Mobile’s “Way Way Out Live” series — he’s leaving the city behind. Instead, he finds himself at Texas’ Cedar Hill State Park. Accompanied just by a guitarist, Joy turns in a smooth three-song set consisting of his “Insecure” (a collaboration with Sweat$, a previous “Way Way Out” performer), “Friends,” and “Henny In The Hamptons.”

Elsewhere in the video, he notes of leaving the pavement and skyscrapers behind, “Getting out of the city enhances my process by just being a palate cleanser. It allows me to really see things clearly and be as innovative and as creative as I want because nothing else is around you. It’s a clean slate. I think the audio that nature emits is just really, really special.” He also says of his creative wants and goals, “The only way I’m able to talk to people and share what I’m thinking is music. My page is like a diary and when I’m gone, I want people to be able to listen to my music and know exactly what I’m thinking.”

Check out Joy’s performances in the video above.

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

South Park‘s still got it, as The Streaming Wars Part 2 proved by taking aim at all of those celebrities who are taking the cryptocurrency money and running and ignoring the world burning around them. Most prominently, this refers to Matt Damon’s “Fortune Favors The Brave” utterance while pushing crypto in a Super Bowl ad that felt surreal enough when it aired. Months later, crypto plummeted in a severe way, which led to massive (and catastrophic) investor and job losses.

Damon, curiously enough, has stayed absolutely silent in the face of that crash. Surely, he’s hoping it will all go away, but South Park doesn’t let such things go quietly into night. In Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s newest movie (streaming on Paramount+), they roasted the heck out of Damon, who they reimagine as shilling for a wildly disgusting new beverage: urine. It’s not pretty, and that’s the point, as the below clip proves.

Damon’s pee popsicle and pasta recipe didn’t represent the only celebrity call out of the evening. As Decider further details (with a marvelous screenshot), Gwyneth Paltrow drank a tea cup full of pee and Reese Witherspoon went bobbing for apples in a barrel of that same liquid. Oh, and Larry David did not go unscathed for his own crypto ad that caused mass confusion on Super Bowl Sunday. Larry’s pee shower says plenty about the crypto-celebrity fiasco that still remains unresolved, unless this counts as the last word.

Don’t ever expect South Park to not go in hard. You can stream The Streaming Wars Part 2 on Paramount+.

Barbz, rejoice. It appears NM5 is imminent. Yesterday, Nicki Minaj took to social media to tease new music. In the video clip, shared on her social channels, she is seen dancing on a couch, twerking in all her glory.

Fans get a taste of new music with the video, as a new song utilizing a heavy sample of Rick James’ “Super Freak” plays throughout.

“I can lick it, I can ride it while you slippin’ and slidin’/ I can do all them little tricks and keep the d*ck up inside it / You can smack it, you can grip it, you can go down and kiss it / And every time he leave me alone he always tell me he miss it,” she raps.

This isn’t the first time Nicki has interpolated “Super Freak.” In “Wanna Minaj,” a cut from her 2008 mixtape, Sucka Free, she freestyles over “Freaky Gurl” by Gucci Mane, on the chorus of which, Gucci raps, “She’s a very freaky girl / Don’t bring her to mama.”

As of now, Nicki has not yet announced a title or a release date for her hotly-anticipated fifth studio album, but in a February interview with The Dana Cortez Show, she revealed that fans can expect the rap stylings they loved Nicki for during her mixtape era.

“There’s a little bit of full-circle-ness happening,” Nicki said, “because I’m creating music kinda like how I used to create music when I first started rapping on mixtapes. I just feel like that’s what’s needed right now… [writing] raps that connect with people, that make people want to sign a long and channel their inner bad bitch.”

At the end of the week, Lizzo will release her fourth album Special, which comes three years after her Platinum-selling, Grammy-winning third album Cuz I Love You. Ahead of the release of Special, Lizzo unveiled the tracklist for the project, and what caught many people’s attention is the album’s closing track, “Coldplay.” The song’s title left many to wonder what the song is about, during a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Lizzo gave some insight into the record.

“This is one of the most literal songs I’ve ever written,” Lizzo said about the song according to Rolling Stone. “Everything I say in the song actually happened.” The song is produced by Ricky Reed, who put together a piano loop and pushed Lizzo to just talk over the instrumental, and what resulted was a sprawling and lengthy tale about a lovestruck vacation she was on. Afterward, Lizzo said she felt “raw and sensitive” about the song and simply wanted to move on, but Ricky had other plans, as he crafted her monologue into a song. Elsewhere in the interview, Lizzo confirmed that the song also has some direct references to Coldplay, and this led to a FaceTime call with Chris Martin during the sit-down.

“I was with somebody, and I was just looking at the stars,” Lizzo said to Martin after she thanked him for letting use the band’s name for the song, which also samples Coldplay’s “Yellow.” “And I was with him, and I was singing it. And tears just were coming to my eyes. You have such an incredible ability to move people with the poetry of your lyricism. So thank you so, so much.”

“Hey, I don’t know how to accept those kinds of compliments,” Martin replied. “Thank you. If someone had told me 22 years ago, ‘One day, Lizzo’s going to make out to this song,’ I’d be like, ‘Okay, great.’ It’s become Lizzo’s hookup song, and that’s good.” Lizzo gleefully added, “Oh, that’s baby-making music, baby!”

Special is out 7/15 via Nice Life and Atlantic. You can pre-save it here.

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

The Addams Family and The Munsters both premiered in 1964, a banner year for black-and-white sitcoms about a family of monsters freaking out the normies. The Addams Family was eventually turned into two very good movies, 1991’s The Addams Family and 1993’s even better Addams Family Values, while The Munsters, well, there’s a Munsters movie called The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas. Needless to say, it’s no “homicide.”

Rob Zombie has wanted to make a non-Christmas Munsters movie for over 20 years, and he finally got his wish: the family-friendly trailer for The Munsters dropped today (you can watch it above). The Munsters stars Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily Munster, and Daniel Roebuck as Grandpa Munster, while Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster in the original series, will make a cameo. Hopefully Zombie can answer how a Frankenstein and a vampire made a werewolf baby.

The Munsters has always been campy, but the low-budget campiness of the trailer is too much for some. “Regardless of the film itself, that’s possibly the worst trailer I’ve ever seen. Jumping between color and b&w, disconnected voiceover, random scenes cobbled together. I’ve no idea what this is supposed to be like. And Herman’s voice is too high,” reads one tweet. Others are willing to give Zombie the benefit of the doubt:

The Munsters comes out later this year.

It has been roughly 17 years since Eminem released his first greatest hits compilation, Curtain Call: The Hits. Since then, he’s released six more albums worth of material, generating four more No. 1 Hot 100 hits, as well as a further slew of Billboard hits like “Venom,” “Godzilla,” “Rap God,” and more. So it’s only right that he takes another Curtain Call, announcing the compilation’s sequel due August 5. And while fans were excited by the news that the project would contain a few new songs, including “The King And I” and “From The D 2 The LBC,” the album’s cover drew a less enthusiastic response.

Inspired by a pinball machine, the cover features an illustration of Eminem throwing up the devil horns, surrounded by rendered references to his past projects and digital score displays. Of course, the numbers on those displays will be familiar to anyone who ever did the upside number words with their calculator in class in high school. The visual gag keeps with Eminem’s sometimes sophomoric humor, but between those, the weirdly rendered pinball theme, and just the overwhelming busyness of the design, fans couldn’t help but give the cover a well-earned roasting on Twitter

However, as always, Em had his defenders as well.

In any case, the album and its cover will be out 8/5 via Shady/Interscope.

One of the best sitcoms to ever exist, Abbott Elementary, has scored a handful of Emmy nominations after its brilliant first season, and the love is very much deserved.

The show received seven nods at the Emmy nomination announcements yesterday, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress for Quinta Brunson, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Tyler James Willians, and Outstanding Supporting Actress for acting veteran Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James.

Of course, fans of the quirky school district are not surprised at the nominations. The show has a dedicated fanbase who have been campaigning for their favorites to get the recognition they deserve. Ralph, who has starred on both the stage and screen for nearly 50 years, snagged her first nomination, and her incredible reaction was caught by her son.

Ralph shared her excitement with People, saying, “I am so deeply honored and completely overwhelmed with an abundance of gratitude that comes with this recognition. Thank you to the Television Academy for the delicious honor of being nominated in the Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, alongside the most talented and hilarious actors of today.”

Brunson not only scored a nomination for her acting, but also for penning the pilot. In a statement to People, show creator and star Brunson expressed her excitement: “What an honor to be nominated by the Television Academy. Creating this show has been the greatest gift and to have it recognized in this way is the dream. It’s a joy we get to share with the amazing people who watched our first season,” she added, “None of this would be possible without my incredible, supportive EP’s Justin Halpern, Randall Einhorn & Patrick Schumacker, our incredible writers room, our insanely talented cast, and the hard-working teams at ABC and WBTV for helping to bring Abbott Elementary to life. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to thank teachers. Thanks for being our inspiration.”

Producer Patrick Schumacker also posted a congratulatory tweet, with a behind-the-scenes look at shooting the pilot over a year ago.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good year for the Abbott crew, who kick off the second season of their hit comedy on September 21st.