Month: September 2022

Though J. Cole is a man of few words, one thing he is loud and proud about is the artists on his label. Dreamville presents itself as a family through its constant collaborations and support. As Ari Lennox prepares for her forthcoming album Age/Sex/Location, which will release on September 9, The Off Season artist is making his excitement for the project well known.

In a video posted to Twitter, J. Cole can be found in the studio with the Shea Butter Baby artist giving her praises and also making suggestions. “You can go like a quick, little four bar pre-hook type thing,” he says in the video. In other portions, he can be shown nodding along aggressively, making the mean face many music listeners make when they are enjoying a song.

Cole and Lennox previously collaborated on the Shea Butter Baby title track which also appeared on the Creed II soundtrack. Just this week, Lennox shared the EP Away Message to tide over listeners during her internet hiatus before Age/Sex/Location releases. Away Message is a five-track EP with a feature from Summer Walker on “Queen Space.” Also ahead of Age, Lennox has shared the singles “Pressure” and “Hoodie“.

Check out the video of J. Cole and Ari Lennox in the studio together above.

Age/Sex/Location is out 9/9 via Dreamville and Interscope. Pre-order it here.

Lindsey Graham is back on the defensive. Less than a week after telling Fox News that there would be “riots in the street” if anyone dares to prosecute Donald Trump for stealing hundreds of top-secret documents from the White House and doing who-knows-what with them at Mar-a-Lago, the senator from South Carolina is once again explaining that he really didn’t say that traitorous thing you heard him say.

On Saturday morning, Graham — wearing his best Italian Villa Casual look — took a break from the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy to chat waterside with CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick about his controversial comments, and to stumble his way through yet another walkback of them. What Graham was trying to do, he explained, was “state the obvious.”

We’re listening…

The way Graham sees it, apparently, is that Republicans in America are being regularly mistreated by our legal system. Though he claimed that he was all for the Mueller investigation into Trump, Graham says that’s just one example of how some people are being treated like criminals, just because they’re Republicans.

Then, of course, there are Hillary Clinton’s emails (SIGH!) — the default response for anyone attempting to defend Trump’s criminal behavior. So that’s exactly where Graham went, noting that “at the end of the day, nothing happened to her.”

So here’s what I said: The raid on President Trump’s home, the likely nominee for 2024, better bear some fruit here. If it’s just about mishandling classified information, we’ve had a standard set when it came to Hillary Clinton.

Our country, people on our side, believe that when it comes to the justice system, there are no rules regarding Trump. ‘Get him — it doesn’t matter how you get him.’ So I said, if it’s similar to what happened to Clinton, and he gets prosecuted, it’ll be one of the most disruptive events in America.

This latest act of self-defense comes just days after Graham tried telling the world that he never said there would be “riots in the street,” even though he did. And following Trump himself suggesting that the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in order to find Hillary’s emails?!

You can watch Sedgwick’s interview above.

(Via CNBC)

A year ago on Saturday (September 3), Drake released his highly-anticipated sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy. As per usual with the “Six God,” people were very split on the album upon release. As its one-year anniversary is celebrated by some, the album is still being highly critiqued by many others.

Commentary on the album on its anniversary ranges from “it’s a classic” to “it is trash,” par for the course when it comes to Twitter discourse. Some fans are using this opportunity to discuss what songs from the album rank among the Views rapper’s all-time records, and which songs they would remove from the tracklist to make it better. The anniversary has even inspired fans to provide their updated rankings of Drake’s discography overall.

Certified Love Boy was released in the wee hours of the morning on September 3, 2021. The 21-song LP features Jay-Z, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giveon, Yebba, and a surprise feature in Kid Cudi, who previously had tension with Drake. As Drake and Kanye West’s relationship was still non-existent, and Ye and Cudi were in the midst of their own tension, many perceived Cudi’s inclusion on the album to be a petty shot at Kanye West.

Check out fan reactions to Certified Lover Boy‘s one-year anniversary above.

The Taylor Hawkins Tribute, hosted by Foo Fighters, is underway this Saturday (September 3) in London to honor the late Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins. Many major acts are slated to be in attendance, namely members of AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Liam Gallagher, and more. In a very special moment, Them Crooked Vultures appeared onstage for their first live performance in 12 years.

Vultures, made up of Josh Homme, John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and Alain Johannes covered Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Queens Of The Stone Age’s “Long Slow Goodbye” and their own record “Gunman.” Grohl later joined Pretenders to perform “Precious,” “Tattoo Love Boys,” and “Brass In Pocket.” Grohl also joined Liam Gallagher to perform “Rock ‘N Roll Star” and “Live Forever,” manning the drums for Gallagher.

In another major moment from the day, Dave Chappelle appeared onstage to discuss his Saturday Night Live appearance in 2020 where Foo Fighters were the special musical guest. He also recalled his experience meeting Taylor Hawkins’s son. “I felt like I met [Taylor] for the first time… It was my first time seeing [Taylor] being a dad. And what a cool f*cking dad.”

Check out footage of Them Crooked Vultures’ first set in twelve years above.

Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation, located about an hour northwest of Missoula, is home to a small community of less than 30,000 people. Yet it felt exponentially smaller when, in the span of one year, it lost 22 of its Native members to suicide, including Walter and Josiah, two teenagers and teammates on the local high school basketball team. While it may seem like a very specific story, Jamie Elias’ new documentary For Walter and Josiah makes it clear that this community’s heartbreak is a microcosm of a much larger problem among the country’s Native American populations, and what Elias describes as “an epidemic few are talking about.”

For Walter and Josiah follows both the Flathead Indian Reservation and the boys’ basketball team specifically to record the community’s response to its growing number of deaths by suicide, and explore how the collision of historical trauma and ever-changing modern-day values have contributed to what the trailer cites is a 200 percent increase in suicides.

“The whole filmmaking team was moved by this small community’s resilience,” says Elias of the film. “And the statistics are alarming; Montana has the highest per capita death by suicide rate — over double the national average — and Native Americans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than white Montanans.”

For Walter and Josiah, which has been making the festival rounds, will be released on digital and video on demand on September 16 as part of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The filmmakers will donate a portion of all iTunes and DVD sales back to the Flathead Reservation directly. You can watch the full trailer above. And you can preorder the film via iTunes here.

Roman Reigns took everything Drew McIntyre had to offer, but was able to overcome thanks to some outside help to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Cardiff on Saturday at Clash at the Castle.

Following a ref bump, Austin Theory ran down to attempt a cash-in of his Money in the Bank briefcase, but got knocked out at ringside by Tyson Fury. McIntyre then connected on a Claymore, a spear of his own, and another Claymore. But thanks to outside interference from Solo Sikoa, who made his main roster debut to pull the referee out, Reigns landed a spear and the champ held on for the win.

After the match, Fury entered the ring, shook hands with Reigns, helped McIntyre to his feet, and held the challenger’s hand in the air. Fury got on the mic and said McIntyre had done everyone proud despite the loss.

With the loss, McIntyre misses on his opportunity to be a WWE champion who would represent the titles “on a regular basis,” comments the challenger made after Reigns inked a WWE extension with fewer dates.

“I know Roman said things in the past about how he feels, and I’m sure he regrets those comments,” McIntyre recently told Uproxx Sports. “But I would never judge anybody for where they’re at in their life and how they want to live their life. But I do feel strongly that the titles need to be represented on the shows, on a regular basis, at our media events, at our weekly live events. And if you can’t make those commitments, I’m not sure you should be champion. But you should certainly be part of the show because you’re a huge freaking star.”

As McIntyre serenaded the crowd, he remained committed to eventually taking the belts off Reigns and stopping his two-year run on top.

The Taylor Hawkins Tribute is taking place on Saturday (September 3) in London, England, with the Foo Fighters paying their respects to their late drummer. A number of special guests were booked ahead of time, namely Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, The Police, and Queens Of The Stone Age. In a special moment, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich joined the Foo Fighters on stage to perform “Back In Black” and “Let There Be Rock.”

In a fan tweet, Foo Fighters plus Johnson and Ulrich can be seen having a grand time on stage. The London attendees erupted with excitement and sang along to the classic records.

In some other major moments from the day, Liam Gallagher joined the Foo Fighters to perform “Rock ‘N Roll Star” and Dave Chappelle appeared to discuss his Saturday Night Live appearance in 2020 when the Foo Fighters performed in addition to the time he met Taylor Hawkins’s son at Madison Square Garden.

In more homage to Taylor Hawkins, his side projects Chevy Metal and The Coattail Riders went onstage to perform a cover of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.”

Check out Brian Johson and Lars Ulrich performing alongside the Foo Fighters in the video above.

We are exactly one TV window into our first full college football weekend of the 2022 season and it’s safe to say that the bar for game of the year has been set incredibly high. The North Carolina Tar Heels, which started their season with a win during Week 0, made the always dangerous trip to Boone to take on Appalachian State on Saturday.

It is hard to say the game was anything other than batsh*t insane. The Mountaineers went up, 21-7, before the Tar Heels started to pour it on. Early on in the fourth quarter, it looked like UNC would be able to fend their opponents off on the road, as they went ahead 41-28.

And then, things got really stupid. App State scored 40 points in the fourth quarter, but somehow, it was not enough, as Carolina was able to secure a thrilling 63-61 win. It seemed like the Heels were going to avoid disaster late in the game — while the Mountaineers scored with 31 seconds left to make it 56-55, their attempt at going for the win came up short, as Chase Bryce just overthrew Dashaun Davis.

The ensuing onside kick presented a chance to get the ball back, and while that happened, it was under pretty unique circumstances. UNC’s Christopher Holliday grabbed the kick and brought it to the end zone, which is bad enough, as it gave the ball right back to the home team. Compounding things was that the Heels decided to kick the PAT, making it an 8-point game instead of something that could not be matched on one drive.

Because weird things happen in Boone, App State returned the kickoff to midfield and went right into the end zone in two plays.

This time, the Mountaineers needed a 2-point conversion to extend the game. Bryce had nowhere to throw it, he attempted to run, and unfortunately for him, Noah Taylor saved the day for the Heels.

College football is back.

The premier matchup during Week 1 of the college football season pits a pair of top-5 teams against one another in a non-conference showdown. In an era where big programs are increasingly playing one another on neutral sites, the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish made their way to Columbus to battle the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes.

It should be an insane atmosphere, as College GameDay was on campus and both of these teams have aspirations of winning a national championship this season. One NBA player, in particular, is excited for the game, and no, it is not someone who went to either school or noted Buckeye football fan LeBron James. Instead, it’s Donovan Mitchell, who thinks the team that resides in his new home state is going to get the job done.

Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week, so picking the Buckeyes is a good way to endear himself to his new fans. This tweet caught the eye of another NBA player, Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges, who is quietly establishing himself as one of the NBA’s best posters and decided to bust Mitchell’s chops for his prediction.

Listen, even if Bridges is right and this is straight up pandering by Mitchell, I can confidently say as a person who lives in Columbus that it will work. Anyway, the Buckeyes are 17-point favorites on Saturday night, so this is probably a smart pick.

OnlyFans has been a booming business over the years where women have offered exclusive, premium content. Despite the often negative stigma, it provides them the opportunity to be free and present themselves however they see fit. Celebrities have thrown their hats into the OnlyFans ring, and with their massive platforms, there has been some recording revenue that exceeds the million-dollar mark. One in particular is Blac Chyna.

Chyna launched her OnlyFans account in April 2020 and, according to Statista, brought in $20 million per month in 2021. Chyna’s page charges a monthly subscription rate of $19.99 where users can assess a mix of explicit photos and videos. Chyna told Baller Alert in 2020 about what inspired her to begin using the application.

“I’m on OnlyFans so I can support the music because that stuff is not cheap at all,” Chyna said. “Getting studio time, engineers, wardrobe, marketing, I’m using all these different hustles to support that and my kids. That’s the ultimate goal: to keep up their living of how they’re living now. I don’t want to be that parent where they have this now; then, when they get older, they don’t have it … I’m a single Black female supporting my kids.”

Blac Chyna’s 2021 earnings are especially impressive because they exceed that of both Bella Thorne and Cardi B. Thorne earned an estimated $11 million per month, and Cardi earned $9.34 million.

Check out Blac Chyna’s OnlyFans earnings report here.