Month: December 2022

After having dropped his sophomore album, From A Bird’s Eye View, this past January, it looks as though Cordae is ready to close out the year with new music. On his latest song, “Feel It In The Air,” he seems resentful of the music industry and the rap game.

He opens the song rapping, “F*ck this industry I’m currently a part of, everybody is fake / Ulterior motives, they’ll lie in your face / I seen friends turn to enemies, become distant memories / Everybody’s janky, they just not who they pretend to be,” over a sample of Beanie Sigel’s 2005 track, “Feel It In The Air.”

He maintains the same energy throughout the song, ending it with it a similar sentiment. “I f*ck with my tribe and my tribe only /
And that’s it / everybody else eat a d*ck / Hi-Level sh*t,” he raps.

In the song’s accompanying music video, Cordae is seen rapping outside of an apartment complex in Baltimore, juxtaposed of clips of him walking throughout the city, reflecting on his time in the industry, as fans try to snap photos of him on their phones.

Check out the video for “Feel It In The Air” above.

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

LL Cool J has created a one-of-a-kind hip-hop experience to honor the genre’s 50th anniversary. The ‘Rock The Bells‘ cruise hits the water on a Norwegian Pearl that will go from Miami to The Bahamas. The trip runs November 13-17 in 2023 and includes performances from Trina and Trick Daddy. A full lineup will be revealed closer to the cruise’s launch date.

“It took 50 years, but it’s finally here! This Cruise is for Hip-Hop, because you deserve it,” LL Cool J shared on Instagram. “The Rock The Bells Cruise: A Hip-Hop Experience is setting sail in 2023. We’re dropping the line up at the top of the new year, but put $100 down to reserve your cabin today or sign up to be the first in line.”

According to HipHopDX, the cruise activities include “pool deck parties with Kid Capri, DJ battles, rap karaoke, interactive graffiti, podcasts, roller skating, open mic nights, movie screenings, art galleries, tattoos, basketball and Bun B’s Trill Mealz Food Court.” Basically, there is something for everyone — and it appears to be kid-friendly.

As for ticket pricing, the costs range from $800 to $5,000, depending on your package choice. However, customers interested in attending LL Cool J’s hip-hop cruise only need to put down a minimum payment of $100 before the year ends in order to secure their spot on the ship.

More information on LL Cool J’s ‘Rock The Bells’ cruise is available here.

All-Star forward Draymond Green has rarely been one to shy away from speaking his mind, regardless of the audience or subject. That trait came to the forefront during Tuesday’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks, which Dallas won behind Luka Doncic’s 41 points. While Spencer Dinwiddie was shooting a free throw in front of his home crowd early in the fourth quarter, Green told a fan sitting courtside to “enjoy the f*cking game. Shut up.”

On Thursday night, the NBA announced that Green was fined $25,000 “for directing obscene language toward a fan.” This is not the first time in 2022 that Green has been fined based on his interactions with an opposing fan base. During Golden State’s second-round series with the Memphis Grizzlies last spring, the 6-foot-6 wing was fined $25,000 for flipping off Grizzlies fans, who he said booed him when he took an elbow to the face and started bleeding.

Argue the legitimacy of that first one all you want — Green said he expected it — but this latest one feels harsh. Presumably, the fan had said something or somethings to elicit that ire from Green, though only Green’s retaliation was caught on camera (as far as we know) and was pretty mild. Nonetheless, the fiery forward is down another $25,000 for sparring with a Southwest Division fanbase. At this rate, his next one will come during a 2022-23 playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans.

In America, many people have to work well past the age of retirement to make ends meet. While some of these people choose to work past retirement age because it keeps them active, some older people, like Nola Carpenter, 81, work out of necessity.

Carpenter has been working at Walmart for 20 years, way beyond most people’s retirement age just so that she can afford to continue to pay her mortgage. When 19-year-old Devan Bonagura saw the woman looking tired in the break room of the store, he posted a video to his TikTok of Carpenter with a text overlay that said, “Life shouldn’t b this hard…” complete with a sad face emoji.

In the video, Carpenter is sitting at a small table looking down and appearing to be exhausted. The caption of the video reads “:/ I feel bad.” Turns out, a lot of other people did too, and encouraged the teen to start a GoFundMe, which has since completed.

The retirement age in the United States in order to collect Social Security benefits is 66, or 67 if you were born in or after 1960. But early retirement starts at 62 for reduced benefits. How many years you worked is a deciding factor in how much financial benefit you will receive from Social Security, with the average amount expected to be $1,827 a month in January 2023.

@dbon973_

WE LOVE YOU NOLA I HOPE THIS HELPS❤️🙏 #blowthisup #fyp #gofundme #nola #walmart #viralvideo

While that amount of money is nothing to scoff at, it’s also not enough to live off of alone, especially for those who fall below the average amount. You also have to factor in Medicare premiums and tax withholdings that must come out of that figure. So it’s no wonder that people over the age of 67 have to continue to work if they don’t have adequate savings put away to retire on. The cost of living increases impact all age groups, including the elderly.

Thankfully for this elderly Walmart worker, the GoFundMe quickly exploded and raised $110,000 in just 24 hours. But when Bonagura went to give the money to Carpenter, she was grateful for the help but explained she would still need to work until the other $60,000 of her mortgage was paid off. This prompted users to give more to secure Carpenter’s retirement.

In the end, the GoFundMe raised $186,000, which was enough to pay off the mortgage on the woman’s house. Retirement is now on the horizon for the grandmother, who says she’s set to retire on the first of the year. She wants to make sure she helps her co-workers get through the holiday season before hanging up her vest for good.

@dbon973_

Update video with Nola ❤️ #nola #dbon #gofundme #viral #blowthisup #love #kindness #givingback

As for Bonagura, he’s currently suspended with pay due to him filming at the store and posting it to TikTok. While he wasn’t an employee of Walmart, he worked for a cellphone carrier that operated sales inside the store. Nevertheless, Bonagura feels he did the right thing and is focused solely on making sure Carpenter gets to retire.

It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they work together. Happy retirement, Nola! Here’s to hoping you enjoy every minute of it.

It’s a wild world. The most heart-warming trailer of the year has landed, and it involves two men who sell infants for a living.

Broker is the latest from Cannes darling Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Japanese filmmaker who is making his first South Korean movie. It’s got major Little Miss Sunshine vibes.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“The film follows two brokers who sell orphaned infants, circumventing the bureaucracy of legal adoption, to affluent couples who can’t have children of their own. After an infant’s mother surprises the duo by returning to ensure her child finds a good home, the three embark on a journey to find the right couple, building an unlikely family of their own.”

The two brokers are played by Song Kang-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer) and Gang Dong-won (Golden Slumber), and Lee Ji-eun (a wildly successful pop singer who goes by IU) plays the mother. Following its Cannes debut, Kore-eda has been praised for delivering another impeccable drama, and Song won the award at the fest for Best Actor. Granted, if anyone can find the humanity, humor, and grace in this profoundly thorny plot set up, it’s Kore-eda.

It’s already made $15m internationally after a summer release, and Neon has picked it up for release in the US, and it should start a limited run starting December 26th.

Gucci Mane has offered rapper B.G. after news broke falsely announcing his release from prison.

B.G., who has been in prison since 2012 on charges of gun possession and witness tampering, was rumored to have been released early from his 14-year sentence, after rapper Birdman had allegedly revealed on Instagram Live that B.G. was set to be released in “a few weeks.”

Throughout the course of the past week, rumors circulated that BG had arrived home, notably after a man who looks like B.G. was seen in a video coming out of prison and hugging their family members.

The rumors later turned out to be false, however, before Gucci was made aware, he took to Twitter to offer B.G. a deal under his 1017 record label.

“My 1017 family help me welcome home the living legend @BGHollyHood !” said Gucci in a tweet, which contained a picture of an incarcerated B.G. “Glad u home bruh! Got so much love and respect for u as a man and artist! Get at me, I got a milli for u! Wanna sign u to 1017!!!!! #1017Mafia”

Gucci’s tweet has since been deleted, and B.G. is still slated to serve his prison sentence until 2024, as reported by VladTV.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After a two-year break, The War On Drugs has announced three new annual benefit shows under the title ‘A Drugcember To Remember.’ Hosted on December 19-21 at Philly’s Johnny Brenda’s, the intimate concerts will raise money for the nonprofit The Fund For The School District Of Philadelphia.

The band is also hosting both a live raffle each night and an auction in January. Items at the auction include “a Golden Ticket good for a pair of tickets to any headline show from The War on Drugs for the next five years, signed memorabilia from Philadelphia professional sports teams, signed instruments from The War on Drugs, signed items from additional esteemed musicians” and more, per a press release.

“There’s no better way to wrap up a long year on the road than with three shows at our favorite club, Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia,” shared band leader Adam Granduciel. “We are grateful that since 2018, with our fans’ help, our Drugcember to Remember shows have raised money for The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia. This year will be no different and we can’t wait to cram on that tiny Brenda’s stage, jam with some friends and have three more memorable nights in Philly. See y’all soon xo ag.”

Tickets for The War On Drugs’ ‘A Drugcember To Remember’ shows go on sale tomorrow (December 2) at 10 a.m. ET. More information is available here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On November 14, 1997, 14-year-old Reena Virk was invited to hang out with a group of other teenagers under the Craigflower Bridge in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. There, she was beaten and kicked by a mob of six bullies before being drowned in the river. It became a national tragedy, highlighting the potential fatal consequences of bullying.

A few years later, writer Rebecca Godfrey went to investigate the crime, ultimately resulting in a book called Under the Bridge, which is finally getting made into a series by Hulu after years in development hell. According to Deadline, Riley Keough will executive produce and star as Godfrey as a modern-day Truman Capote figure embedding herself into the world of the accused killers. Keough is partnering again with Gina Gammell after co-directing War Pony and earning the Camera d’Or, Cannes‘ prize for debut filmmaking. Quinn Shephard (Not Okay) wrote the script and will executive produce, and Geeta Patel (Meet the Patels) is set to direct.

Godfrey’s book was optioned by Reese Witherspoon’s production company back in 2007. Godfrey died earlier this year, and will be credited as an executive producer after collaborating with Shephard for several years on the screenplay.

It’s a sensitive tragedy swimming in a genre where the incentives for sensationalism tend to outweigh respecting victims and their families. Hopefully, this is the team to get the balance right. Production starts this month, so we should see Under the Bridge on Hulu next year.

(via Deadline)

Besides launching the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 and its multi-armed, gun-wielding Groot, Brazil Comic-Con got a chance to see a touch of new Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania footage at the tail-end of a featurette celebrating all things Scott Pym. Honestly, at this point in the MCU, this type of featurette should be made for every main character to play as a Last Time On before each new movie. It’s handy! And more than a little emotional, especially since Pym is perhaps the most normalish of the superhero crew leading into his miniaturization.

It also works as a nice trailer as Scott and Hope Van Dyne kick off a relatively chill Marvel year — with only three films set for release, all featuring characters we’ve seen before.

Here’s the official synopsis for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania:

“Superhero partners Scott Lang (<a href=”https://uproxx.com/topic/paul-rudd/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Paul Rudd</a>) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. and Stephen Broussard, p.g.a., “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang. The sci-fi adventure opens in theaters on Feb. 17, 2023.”

Julia Jacklin paid tribute to one of music’s biggest icons — someone who has also personally impacted her creative process: Céline Dion.

During Jacklin’s recent concert in Madrid, she performed a cover of Dion’s classic hit, “My Heart Will Go On.” Fans and casual music listeners might recognize this track from the famous Titanic scene. That being said, anyone deciding to cover Dion isn’t up for an easy challenge.

Still, Jacklin managed to put her spin on the song as a duet with Erin Rae and do it well. Instead of trying to reach the high vocal notes, she gives it a dreamy, joyous tone that is elevated by being able to hear the crowd cheer and sing along. It shows just how universal music is.

Dion doubled as Jacklin’s guiding influence for making her recent record, Pre-Pleasure, making this all the more fitting of a choice.

“I feel like it’s a bit of a personality test for me now,” Jacklin told Consequence. “If someone is shit-talking Céline Dion, I’m like, ‘What do you find joy in?’ I’m not saying everyone has to like Céline Dion, but it’s so easy to not take that kind of artist seriously. But they are so beloved and they obviously are doing something that really connects with people, and that is so valuable.”

Watch Julia Jacklin perform Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” above.