Month: July 2022

Among the many rap albums we’ve received in 2022, Babyface Ray’s debut album Face is certainly one of the better releases. Since its arrival at the beginning of the year, Babyface has done a great job promoting the 20-track project thanks to the numerous music videos he shared. That trend continues with a brand new visual for “A1 Since Day 1.”

The video for the song, which serves as the opening track for the deluxe version of Face, is a compilation of concert videos as well as backstage and behind-the-scenes clips from Babyface and his crew. Altogether, Babyface uses the video to showcase a solid lifestyle and what it’s brought him.

Two months ago, Babyface Ray shared the deluxe version of Face which added eight songs to the project. The additional songs presented features from Veeze, Baroline, Lucki, DJ Esco, and Lil Yachty while the original project called on G Herbo, 42 Dugg, Wiz Khalifa, Yung Lean, Landstrip Chip, Pusha T, and Icewear Vezzo.

In addition to the video for “A1 Since Day 1,” Babyface Ray, who was recently inducted into the 2022 XXL Freshman Class, has also shared visuals for “Family Over Money,” “6 Mile Show,” “Motown Music,” “My Thoughts 3/Pop’s Prayer,” and “Dancing With The Devil.”

You can watch the video for “A1 Since Day 1” above.

Face (Deluxe) is out now via Wavy Gang/Empire. You can stream it here.

Ahead of his upcoming album, God Save The Animals, singer/songwriter Alex G stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform the album’s second single, “Runner.”

Joined by a backing band of bass guitarists and a keyboardist, Alex delivered a slow, intimate version of the song, on which he recalls a special friend.

“I laugh when you say the wrong thing / Mouthing off to everybody else but me / They hit you with the rolled up magazine,” he sings.

God Save The Animals is set to arrive this fall. The album was written and recorded by Alex, alongside his bandmates Sam Acchione, Molly Germer, John Heywood, and Tom Kelly. Sticking to his signature approach, Alex demoed the tracks in his home studio, before later recording final versions across various studios. Co-produced with Jacob Portrait, the album was recorded in multiple studios across Philadelphia.

According to a release accompanying the album announcement, God Save The Animals “consequently features the work of some half-dozen engineers whom Giannascoli asked to help him produce the “best” recording quality, whatever that meant. The result is an album more dynamic than ever in its sonic palette and its thoroughgoing complexity.”

In addition to a new album, Alex also recently scored an indie horror film We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.

Check out the performance above.

God Save The Animals is out 9/23 via Domino. Pre-order it here.

Ken Jennings is back to hosting Jeopardy! this week, and he certainly turned some heads with a quick joke he made during Monday’s episode. The Jeopardy! GOAT took the host podium back from Mayim Bialik as the rotation of temporary hosts continues for Season 38, and while we have no real indication of who will host the show come September’s Season 39, we immediately got a bit of the humor many fans have enjoyed from Jennings in his time as temporary host.

While Bialik has a more straightforward approach, Jennings isn’t afraid to drop some jokes into the proceedings if the mood is right. And on Monday he decided to make a joke about circumcision during Double Jeopardy. After a correct answer from contestant Erica in the Active Bible Verses category, Jennings awarded some “painful” money.

“Since no one had done this for 40 years, God told Joshua to get a knife & do this to male Israelites,” was the answer Jennings read, to which Erica responded “circumcise.” That’s correct, of course, but Jennings had to make a quick joke before moving on in the round.

“That is correct,” he said. “A painful $2,000 for you!”

It was over in a flash but certainly a bit suggestive for a syndicated game show airing after the local news. Reaction among fans seems to be mixed, with some applauding his return and the line while others have framed it as cringeworthy. And while it’s that kind of willingness to crack jokes that’s gotten Jennings in trouble in other areas in the past, it’s also something legendary host Alex Trebek was more than willing to do in his long tenure on the program. And something he even managed to do as a contestant on his record-shattering run of wins.

It’s inevitable to compare Jennings to Bialik given the veritable bake-off the co-hosting duties has become, and some of those comparisons are simply not very fair to either host, especially the extra criticism Bialik has gotten for her style and wardrobe. One major difference we’ve seen is Jennings’ willingness to go there for a joke, even if it doesn’t land with everyone. Still, it’s still far less cringeworthy than this incredible series of wrong answers from another show Alex Trebek once hosted, Classic Concentration. Agony, indeed.

[via NY Post]

It’s rare to be known best by a single, subtle motion of your body, especially when you’re a 7’2 NBA Hall of Famer who was an all-time defender with one of the most booming voices on the planet, but Dikembe Mutombo still manages to speak loudest through one iconic finger wag. If in-game rejections were his strong suit, since his retirement after 19 seasons in 2009, Mutombo’s chief concern has been in creating avenues for aid through his Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, especially in his home of the Congo.

To date, he’s opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, a teaching hospital in Kinshasa, and a school, the Samuel Mutombo Institute Of Science in Mbuji Mayi. He also sits on the board of the CDC Foundation, Special Olympics International, and the National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, just some of the duties that propelled him to be named one of this year’s honorees of the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award, a part of the ESPYs 8th annual Humanitarian Awards.

Dime caught up with Mutombo just before he made the trip to L.A. for the awards ceremony on what the award means to him, plus modern bigs and NBA defence, the explosion and success of African players in the league, his advice for Chet Holmgren and where the status of solid taunts currently stands.

I know you’re flying out to L.A. tomorrow and have a busy week ahead. Are you looking forward to attending the awards ceremony and meeting the other honorees?

Yes, I’m very honored to have a chance to go to L.A. for such a great ceremony — The ESPYs. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone, the honorees from today and from the past, because it’s such a great, special event. It’s a chance of a lifetime to be honored by such a great organization.

What does being the recipient of the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE award mean to you?

You know, it means a lot. Stuart was a great man, a great husband, great father to his family, not just a great reporter. He was one of the funniest guys, who brought so much joy and smiles to so many people every night while they watched him. And he encouraged people to participate in doing good for others. So I’m glad that I’m getting such an honor named after him.

Karl-Anthony Towns is being awarded the Muhammed Ali Sports Humanitarian Award in the same Humanitarian Award class as you. You’ve always used basketball as a bridge for change, you’ve built a hospital and most recently a school in the Congo through your foundation, what does it mean to see younger athletes in the NBA realizing the importance of humanitarian work?

I’m so happy that some of the young people who are following in the footsteps, making a change because of basketball. We’re using basketball to make a change in the world because it’s a great sport. It’s allowed us to be seen on television by millions of people worldwide, it’s allowed us to make money, and allowed us also to make a change. Like Mandela says, sports have the power to change the world, sports have the power to change our communities. So I’m glad that the game of basketball has allowed me to do that.

Do you have any next, big projects on the horizon for or through your foundation?

[chuckles] I don’t want to give too much away, but we have other projects we’re working on. I think the biggest project is to continue to fight for women. Breast cancer and ovarian cancer are killing more women in Africa. Those are my next fights.

There are so many new and exciting African athletes in the league. I’m in Toronto so I’ve had the great luck of seeing Pascal Siakam explode into the versatile player that he is, same with Precious Achiuwa, and hopefully soon Christian Koloko. You were a huge part of the influx we’re seeing now of African players. Do you think the league is just scratching the surface on the potential of African players, whether through avenues like the BAL, or champions of the sport like yourself?

I think I’ve been a great role model for so many of our young people who are coming up. I think I’ve set a great platform to do what I did in social change. I want to inspire them. Because myself, I was inspired by those who came before me, and we should not forget about where we come from. And Africa needs that. If there’s a way for us to go make those changes then we need to go and reach out to the loved ones. I’m glad to see numbers of different players, from basketball and other sports, who are returning back to the continent and making change.

What do you think has led to the influx that we’re seeing?

There’s a great proverb, an African proverb, that says when there’s a problem affecting one part of the community, it becomes a responsibility of everyone living in that part of society. So I think we do understand the problems we are facing, and we want to be part of the change as well.

I wanted to get your thoughts on defense in today’s game. The Celtics and Timberwolves this last season utilized multiple big men with a shot blocker in the middle. The Cavs are an oversized, defensively-minded team, so are the Raptors, does it make you happy to see defense and big blocks coming back as a focal point?

Yes! I think there will always be a place for big men in the game. I was in Vegas last week, and everybody was talking about the return of the big man game. I think big men will always have a place in basketball, because that’s the way the game works inside. Even though we see more guys shooting threes now, nothing has changed. Big men are coming back, and they’re coming back strong, too.

And what do you think of the versatility that’s now demanded of big men? I think of stretch-big, 6’9 type players who are asked to switch and do a little bit of everything.

We didn’t have these kind of 6’9, 6’10 guys shooting threes before. Not shooting threes like they’re shooting today. But when it comes to a post up player like Joel Embiid, the game’s still inside. That’s where you see [bigs] continue to dominate the game inside. Everybody can shoot outside, but there’s nothing like going inside to go fight in the paint.

I agree with you [laughs].

[chuckles] When it comes to the playoffs, the ball has to go inside to come out.

You mentioned you were in Vegas for Summer League, did you get to see Chet Holmgren play?

Yes, I did. Very, very talented young player. I think he has a bright future. He’s present on defense, he’s not afraid of anybody. He’s standing tall and he can dribble, he can pass, he can take the ball to the hoop. He’s not holding anything back and I was very impressed.

Being a slim shot blocker, what advice would you have for him in his first season?

Keep working hard and stay in the weight room.

Your finger wag is an all-time iconic taunt. Are there any recent taunts you’ve seen and liked? Did you see Steph Curry’s “night-night” taunt in the playoffs?

[laughing] Yeah I think what Steph did will last for a long time. I was watching some clips online and I saw this kid, he made a shot and then he went on his side and fell asleep. And I was laughing so hard, I said, “What the heck.”

Do you think there should be more taunts?

Steph did it because he’s the best. He’s the league MVP. Anybody want to go that way, make sure that you bring your game with you.

And finally, you had such a long and successful career. You played for 18 seasons in the NBA, retiring when you were 43. Do you think that kind of longevity is going to become more of the norm in the NBA going forward?

You have to take care of your body, and it takes a lot of sacrifice. Maintain your body the way I did throughout my career. Only those who have discipline like that can play a long time. But you will always face challenges from those new generations coming in. For you to maintain your game at that pace.

And what about the mental perseverance?

What I mean about taking care of your body includes the mental component. Cause every time you come back, you’re met with young people who want to go over you, fly over you. And you gotta know, am I mentally fit for these challenges, and for what these young people want to take from me?

Tom Cruise was notoriously reluctant to make a sequel to Top Gun, calling it “irresponsible” in an interview with Playboy in 1990. That was then; “Top Gun: Maverick is 2022’s highest-grossing movie” is now.

Cruise is the face of three franchises: Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, and Jack Reacher (there will not be a third Jack Reacher movie with Cruise, not with the success of the TV show without him, but Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is underrated). But his first sequel (Mission: Impossible 2) didn’t come until 19 years into his career, and a year after he made two of his most daring and best movies, Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia. Would there be a Top Gun: Maverick if the Oscars had respected the c*ck? (Cruise lost Best Supporting Actor to Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.)

It’s a timeline-changing question that Ethan Hawke — who, like Cruise, has been nominated for multiple Oscars but never won — posed in an interview with Indiewire.

“John Coltrane never won a prize. There are benchmarks that society likes, but they can’t be benchmarks for the artist because then you’re just lost. Sometimes I wonder if Tom Cruise won the Oscar for Magnolia, would it have changed the trajectory of his career?” he said. “It kind of seems like he gave up on chasing approval from the industry and just did his own thing. That’s probably a good thing for him, but sometimes I wish they gave him more prizes for Magnolia so that he had done it again.”

I love the Mission: Impossible movies and Top Gun: Maverick was a blast, but I agree with Hawke. Cruise is fantastic in Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut and Collateral, and it would be thrilling to see him take on daring dramas for adults again instead of sticking with tentpoles. Indie theaters need your help, too, Tom!

(Via Indiewire)

WARNING: Spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder below.

During the mid-credits scene for Thor: Love and Thunder, Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein joined the ranks of Charlize Theron and Harry Styles by introducing a new character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Hercules. Considering the internet is crazy for Roy Kent, Goldstein’s character on Ted Lasso, it’s pretty amazing that Marvel was able to keep his cameo under wraps even after Love and Thunder hit theaters. In fact, not even his own parents knew.

According to Goldstein, he tricked his parents into seeing the Thor movie in the UK even though it’s not their kind of film. “You should go see it. It’s funny,” he told them. However, Goldstein’s plan to surprise them with his Hercules reveal almost didn’t work because his mom kept texting him as moms do. Via Variety:

“My mom is texting me all the way through the film giving me a running commentary,” Goldstein continued. “I’m like, ‘Just watch the film!’ It gets to the end bit, where it shows Russell Crowe… My mom texts me ‘Russell Crowe’s in it again, he’s very funny.’ I go, ‘F*cking look up at the screen!’”

While the audience reaction to Hercules blew away director Taika Waititi, who was apparently unaware just how much Ted Lasso love is out there, Goldstein genuinely has no idea what’s next for the character thanks to that infamous Marvel secrecy.

“I truly, honestly — this isn’t me lying or being coy — I know nothing,” Goldstein told Variety. “All I know is what I did that day and that’s it. That could be it. It was a fun three seconds.”

Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.

(Via Variety)

Back in May 2020, everyone’s pandemic-addled brains acknowledged how the then-fabled “Snyder Cut” of Justice League existed and would be coming to HBO Max. Have our noggins recovered yet? That’s debatable, but the four-hour runtime served as a lofty platform for Zack Snyder’s years-long crusade to finally bring his vision (and Jared Leto’s so-called “world weary” Joker, not the David Ayer version) to screens. Snyder has gone to go back to zombie basics while showcasing the hordes of Netflix’s Army of the Dead, but as the dust has settled over at HBO Max, the adventure appears to have left a bad taste in Warner Bros. executives’ mouths.

At least, that’s according to a new Rolling Stone report that details how Snyder’s zombie hordes (from elsewhere) were apparently comparable to what allegedly went down with a social media movement. The report details how Warner Bros. commissioned reports after questioning “how organic the SnyderVerse legion really was.” Granted, yes, there are Snyder superfans out there, and we do (also allegedly) “live in a society,” but the reports apparently pointed to a not-insignificant percentage (13%+ as compared to “typical” amount of 3-5% on trending subjects) of enthused Twitter accounts that were fakey fake. Here’s the lowdown from Rolling Stone:

Two firms contacted by Rolling Stone that track the authenticity of social media campaigns, Q5id and Graphika, also spotted inauthentic activity coming from the SnyderVerse community. And yet another firm, Alethea Group, found that the forsnydercut.com domain — which claims to have made the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut hashtag go viral in May of 2018, and became the landing hub for efforts to bring Snyder back to the helm of the DC universe — was, at least at one point, registered to a person who also ran a now-defunct ad agency which promoted its ability to bring “cheap, instant Avatar traffic to your website.”

Yup, that’s not good. Rolling Stone also details how Snyder pushed back to claim that Warner Bros. was “trying to leverage my fan base to bolster subscribers to their new streaming service.” HBO Max seemed to already be doing just fine at that point, although it’s understandable that they’d want to get in on fan service with such a seemingly loyal audience. However, Rolling Stone also quotes a source that suggests Snyder “was like a Lex Luthor wreaking havoc,” which is left open to interpretation.

The full Rolling Stone piece is worth a read, and it also arrives at about the same time as scrutiny regarding an alleged army of Johnny Depp-loving bots. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor has been accused of either funding or looking the other way regarding the presence a bot-campaign and actual fans that orchestrated an “organized campaign of widespread targeted harassment” against Amber Heard, leading up to and during the former couple’s most recent defamation trial. Instances of similarly disturbing behavior, by either bots or actual fans, are described in the Rolling Stone report as reasons why Warner Bros. executives grew alarmed.

It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin and remember that, sometimes, it’s healthy to close the laptop, man.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Hailie Jade Mathers has successfully made a name for herself outside of being Eminem’s daughter, building a following of nearly 3 million people on Instagram and almost a million more on TikTok. Now, she’s offering fans a more intimate look into her life via her new Just A Little Shady podcast, which she announced last week. The first episode is out now, and in it, Mathers reflects on what it was like growing up as Eminem’s daughter.

Chatting with childhood best friend and co-host Brittany Ednie, Mathers said (as NME notes) “It’s so fun to look back… thinking back as an adult, I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s so, so surreal,’ and those memories of me thinking those were normal things, now I look back like, ‘Holy crap, that was cool.’”

Ednie added, “‘I remember going on [the tour bus] and all our memories of being young were so cool and unique to look back at now. At the time, it felt so normal and not anything strange or different. We didn’t know any better.”

Mathers continued, “That was so fun. I always like, think about that time. We went to Florida, my dad was working on something, and he set up for us to do, like, the limo and take it to Disney and we did the princess tea party, and he had the dresses waiting for us. And even then, at the time, we were so happy and so excited, but we didn’t get to appreciate that moment as much as now when we talk about it and think back on it.”

Listen to the full debut episode of Just A Little Shady below.

Sometimes we all need a feel-good story, and here at Upworthy, we seek out those stories so we can bring them to our audience. When we saw this one in the Daily Sitka Sentinel about a blind elderly dog being reunited with her worried family, we knew we had to share. An Alaskan family was faced with extraordinary stress after losing their sweet elderly pup, Lulu, after she wandered away from the yard.

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Alaska is no place for a pet to go missing, with the wide range of wild animals sharing the habitat with its human population. From grizzly bears to moose, wolverines and everything in between, Alaska isn’t the safest place for domesticated animals to wander around alone. So when Lulu went missing it’s understandable that her family was worried for her safety. Thankfully for the frazzled family, a construction crew found the elderly dog three weeks after she had gone missing. The construction workers first thought Lulu was a bear hiding in the salmonberry bushes.

Lulu was close to death when she was found, but she’s now back with her family getting lots of snuggles and being nursed back to health. Ted Kubacki, Lulu’s owner, told the Daily Sitka Sentinel, “She means everything. I have five daughters 4 to 13 years old, so they’ve spent every day of their life with that dog.”

After the canine wandered off on June 18, the Kubackis were victims of a mean practical joke when someone told them they had found Lulu. After the Kubackis responded to the text with joy, exclaiming, “Oh my god, this is incredible,” the jokester replied, “just kidding,” dashing the joy and hope of the moment in one cruel text. The family became increasingly worried as the days went by.

Kubacki said, “She’s just so helpless, and you kind of imagined that she can’t get real far because she can’t see.”

Knowing their dog was blind, elderly and essentially defenseless against any predators or people who might do her harm, the family began to give up hope. Days, then weeks passed with no sign of Lulu, until three weeks later when a construction crew ran across what they thought was a bear. Once the crew got close enough to see the bear was actually a lost family pet, they got her out of there and called the Kubackis.

“I called my wife from work and I was just screaming… She just starts yelling, then she yells to the kids. And I just hear them screaming like crazy,” Kubacki told the Sentinel. The normally 80-pound golden retriever had dropped to just 57 pounds, was dirty with matted fur and was obviously dehydrated and hungry.

Kubacki explained that when their beloved dog returned home she could barely pick her head up. But, he said, “Slowly but surely she started eating and she was kind of able to pick her head up. But then yesterday, she propped herself up on her front paws by herself, like nestled into me and gave me a kiss and wagged her tail and it was just so great.”

We’re so happy this story had a storybook ending. Now Lulu can live out the rest of her golden years getting the snuggles she so richly deserves.

When Kanye West pulled out of his headlining spot at Rolling Loud — his second such major festival cancellation this year — fans hoped that his replacement would be longtime Rolling Loud mainstay, Travis Scott. Instead, Kid Cudi was announced as West’s replacement, prompting some fans to speculate that Travis was blacklisted after the deaths at Astroworld. It didn’t help that co-founder Tariq Cherif responded to a fan’s comment on Instagram that the “venue won’t allow Travis because of Astroworld deaths.”

However, Rolling Loud’s organizers have made it clear through statements given to Rolling Stone that Travis was not banned from Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. Instead, they say the logistics of pulling together a Travis headlining set at the eleventh hour were just too difficult to make happen. According to a spokesperson, “We reached out to Travis to headline Rolling Loud, but it couldn’t work in such a short time. This had nothing to do with any restrictions from the hosting venue Hard Rock Stadium.”

It certainly doesn’t appear that the Houston rapper has had any troubles getting booked after taking a six-month hiatus from performing. He was also billed as a headliner of Day N Vegas — although that festival was canceled due to logistical issues — and he’s due to headline Primavera Sound in Sao Paulo despite the hundreds of lawsuits currently underway against Travis and Roc Nation. His first concert back at London’s O2 Academy also reportedly sold out so quickly that a second date was added, so it doesn’t appear venues are any warier about him than they were before.

As for Rolling Loud, Kid Cudi is headlining, so there isn’t that much difference, right?