Year: 2022

Hillary Clinton has endured a lot more than defeat from Donald “Meat Breath” Trump. In addition to being the “her” in the “Lock her up!” chant that has become a staple of Trump’s rallies, the former president and his stooges (i.e. Rudy Giuliani and Don Jr.) have never missed a chance to hurl insults and conjecture that some might consider defamatory her way. And Hillary has had enough.

On Thursday, Clinton gave a speech at the New York State Democratic Convention which some people interpreted as the former secretary of state signaling that she might be ready to take legal action against the former president, as well as his cronies at Fox News. As Mediaite reports, Clinton directed attendees to not be “distracted… [by] some new right-wing lie on Fox or Facebook.” More specifically, she was referring to special counsel John Durham’s claims that Clinton and her team “spied” on Trump when he was both a presidential candidate and president of the United States. In response, Clinton told the crowd:

By the way, they’ve been coming after me again lately, in case you might have noticed. It’s funny. The more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get. So now his accountants have fired him, and investigations drop closer to him, and right on cue, the noise machine gets turned up, doesn’t it?

Fox leads the charge with accusations against me, counting on their audience to fall for it again. And as an aside, they’re getting awfully close to actual malice in their attacks. But as I said, don’t get distracted. Don’t let the extremes of any or either side throw us off course. Focus on the solutions that matter to voters, not the slogans that only matter on Twitter.

As Mediaite notes, the phrase “actual malice” is what stood out to legal experts, as the Supreme Court uses the term in considering defamation suits, and defines it as a statement one makes “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

Fox, of course, has run with the narrative, and published a controversial story with the headline “Clinton campaign paid to ‘infiltrate’ Trump Tower, White House servers to link Trump to Russia, Durham finds.” And Sean Hannity is basically daring Clinton to sue his employer. Careful what you wish for?

Could the next Hillary/Donald match-up be in a courtroom? Anything’s possible at this point.

(Via Mediaite)

On Thursday, a New York judge ruled that former-president Donald Trump and two of his kids, rant-prone Donald Jr. and photo op-genius Ivanka, must answer questions under oath about the Trump Organization’s allegedly shady business practices. “In his ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron gave the green light for the three to be deposed within the next three weeks,” NBC News reports. “He also ordered the former president to turn over documents and information that had been subpoenaed within two weeks and portrayed the Trumps’ claims of being selectively targeted as overblown.”

Jimmy Kimmel has a good idea of what will happen when Trump is under oath. “I bet Trump gets five seconds into that deposition before he shouts, ‘It was Eric!’” he joked during Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “The judge says the Trumps have 21 days to comply. Right now they’re looking for a Bible tiny enough for him to put his hand on to swear him in.”

Kimmel couldn’t resist taking another shot at Eric. “Eric Trump was not deposed for this round of questioning, and maybe it’s for the best, because no judge or even lawyer should be subjected to this.” Cue a supercut of Eric looking real sweaty on Fox News.

You can watch Kimmel’s monologue above.

It’s been about a month now since Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn sent shock waves through the music industry by declaring that Taylor Swift doesn’t write her own songs. Liam Gallagher, whose Oasis was a major rival to Albarn’s Blur in the ’90s, weighed in briefly, but now he’s spoken more about his thoughts on the situation.

In a new NME feature, Gallagher said:

“All them f*cking gorilla albums are co-writes aren’t they? I get it – Noel bangs on about it as well: ‘I’m more important than you because I write my f*cking songs’ As much as you’ve had a decent life and a mad life, sometimes it can be hard to pin down what you want to f*cking say and some people can bring it out of you a bit better.”

Gallagher added, “Well, he won’t be saying that again in a hurry, though, will he? Did he not get ran out of f*cking town by the Swifters? I think [Taylor’s] f*cking cool, man. She does write her songs and I’m sure she’s co-wrote with people.”

He also noted that while he hasn’t heard Swift’s recent folk-leaning albums Folklore and Evermore, he does “like that pop one, ‘Shake It Off’ — that’s a f*cking tune.”

As to Gallagher’s point about Albarn co-writing Gorillaz songs, two of the band’s most recent albums, 2017’s Humanz and 2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, are almost entirely collaborative tracks that have more than one credited writer. (Of note is the fact that Noel Gallagher co-wrote and sang on Humanz album closer “We Got The Power.”)

Check out the full feature here.

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

After the pandemic threw off touring plans for a few years, many big indie bands are making a 2022 comeback with double albums. Big Thief just delivered their 20-track LP and Kurt Vile recently announced a 90-minute magnum opus. But is Beach House’s latest project Once Twice Melody effective as a double album? On this week’s Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen talk Beach House’s new album; reminisce on their most vivid festival memories; and decide it’s not too early to argue about The 1975.

Along with diving into Beach House’s Once Twice Melody, Indiecast walks listeners through recently announced weekend-long festival lineups, which thankfully still exist two years into the pandemic. Hangout Fest 2022 hit the mark with Tame Impala, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, and Phoebe Bridgers. Beale Street Music Festival took a more eclectic approach by booking a mix bag of performers like Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne, Smashing Pumpkins, Three 6 Mafia, DaBaby, and Modest Mouse.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian shouts out Pittsburgh band String Machine, whose album Hallelujah Hell Yeah is set to release next week. Steven hypes up Philly four-piece Caracara, an emo band with ’90s alt-rock influences who are opening for String Machine on tour later this year.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 77 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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

Kanye West has been teasing the release of his eleventh album, Donda 2, for the better part of three weeks. He previously revealed that Future would executive produce it while rumors said Marilyn Manson was working closely with Ye on the project. Additionally, Kanye shockingly announced that Kid Cudi, someone he’s worked closely with for more than a decade, will not appear on the album due to his friendship with Pete Davidson, who is dating Kanye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian. With just four days until the release of Donda 2, Kanye returned with another announcement about the project.

According to Kanye himself, Donda 2 will only be available on the stem player he released last fall and not on streaming services. That means all of you who hoped to enjoy the album on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and more will have to fork over $200 to hear it on Kanye’s stem player. “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” Kanye wrote in an Instagram post that revealed the news. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”

If you’re interested in purchasing the stem player, which is priced at $200, you can head over to its official website to buy it. The device was announced before the arrival of Donda and shipped out to fans two months after the 2021 album was released. It let users control vocals, drums, bass, and samples, isolate certain parts of a song, and add effects. The stem player also supports Bluetooth capabilities and features a headphone jack, volume buttons, speakers, a haptic engine, and 8GB of storage.

You can view Kanye’s announcement in the post above.

It’s been a few years since DDG decided to shift his focus from YouTube to music, and so far, it’s paid off well for the young rapper. He kicked things off in 2018 with Take Me Serious, and by last year, he earned his respect with his third project Die 4 Respect. The 11-track effort delivered appearances from Lil Yachty, Pnb Rock, Coi Leray, 42 Dugg, and more and stood out in the hip-hop world and appeared on Uproxx’s Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2021 list. We’ll have to see what’s next for DDG, but he’s getting the ball rolling with his new single, “Elon Musk” alongside Gunna.

The new track sticks to the melodic formula that the rappers have thrived with, and on it, DGG and Gunna share their aspirations to be as rich as Elon Musk and Kanye West. The new single arrives after DDG ended his 2021 year with “Rucci,” a triumphant effort that celebrated his success in two games. As for Gunna, he’s been off to a great start in 2022 as he kicked off the year with his third album DS4EVER. The project has stood out as a favorite in the music world and it also became his second No. 1 solo album after it beat out The Weeknd’s Dawn FM for the top spot.

DDG and Gunna’s pairing also comes at an interesting time as many have romantically linked them to R&B sister duo Halle and Chloe Bailey respectively.

You can scroll up to the video above to hear DDG and Gunna’s new single.

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

Baby Tate, who previously went by Yung Baby Tate, had her moment in the spotlight with 2020’s After The Rain. Months later, she dropped a deluxe reissue that added six songs to the original seven that appear on the project, which delivered collaborations with Flo Milli and fellow Atlanta native 6lack. After keeping things cool in 2021, Baby Tate, complete with a new name, is back in action with her latest single, “S.L.O. (Slut Him Out).” The track is quite the dismissive effort as she shuts down the idea of true romance and instead opts for a brief moment of freaky fun.

The new single comes after Baby Tate and 21 Savage appeared alongside JID on his most recent single, “Surround Sound.” The track closed with a verse from Baby Tate that was cut off after a few verses. This prompted fans to request the full version, something she delivered at the end of last month. Its release came in the form of a video posted to Twitter that captured twerking in the mirror. Prior to that, she released her “Pedi” single and dropped “Dungarees” for the soundtrack to Halle Berry’s film Brusied.

You can listen to “S.L.O. (Slut Him Out)” in the video above.

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

At the end of 2021, Lucky Daye announced that his sophomore album Candy Drip would arrive at some point during the spring of 2022. He shared the news by releasing its enticing title track. The project will follow up his 2019 debut album Painted, which received a Grammy nomination at the 2020 award show. In Lucky’s latest step towards his upcoming second album, he recruits Lil Durk for their new single “NWA.” The track sees both acts in a very confident state as they flex their ability to attain women and keep them happy while also discussing their smoking habits.

Lucky’s new song comes after he announced that he’d be hitting the road in support of his Candy Drip album. The string of shows will begin next month with a stop in Portland, Oregon, and continue through April before coming to an end in New York. Lucky Daye will also bring singer Joyce Wrice with him as an opener for the tour.

Aside from the upcoming tour, Lucky has been fairly active on the music side of things. After releasing his Table For Two EP last year, he delivered a handful of collaborations that saw him work with Nao, VanJess, BJ The Chicago Kid, Khalid, and more.

Scroll up to the video above to hear Lucky Daye and Lil Durk’s new song.

While 2020 turned out to be much different than many of us expected, for some like Jack Harlow, they saw their dreams come true over the course of that year. The Louisville native saw his career rise to new heights thanks to his breakout single “What’s Poppin” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year, Harlow released his official debut album That’s What They All Say which delivered 15 tracks and contributions from Adam Levine, Big Sean, Lil Baby, Bryson Tiller, EST Gee, and more. After spending 2021 enjoying his newfound success, Harlow seems set on starting the latest chapter in his career.

Harlow returns with “Nail Tech,” his first single of 2022. The track is a classy and flashy effort that finds the rapper bragging about all things in his life. He flaunts the trust he has with his nail tech, his wealth, the woman he finds himself with, the talent in his hometown, and much more. The track’s accompanying video also features an appearance from Yung Miami. It comes after he released a promotional video for the track that captured him in the middle of a meeting with a therapist as he admits to his struggle to select a new single for his next album. Well, at long last, it’s here and it features a verse from Yung Miami.

The song arrives after Jack Harlow concluded his Crème De La Crème California Tour which saw him perform in multiple cities in the Golden State.

You can watch the video for “Nail Tech” above.

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

Next month, designer and producer Nigo will release his first album in nearly two decades with I Know Nigo. The project was announced at the end of last year and it is being handled by Steven Victor, who manages Pusha T and Pop Smoke. So far, fans have heard one single from I Know Nigo, “Ayra” with ASAP Rocky. Now, they can enjoy a second release as Nigo teams up with Kid Cudi for “Want It Bad.” The track is a hazy release that seems Cudi glide on production that becomes more and more energetic and chaotic as he progresses through the song.

The new song concludes quite the up-and-down week for Kid Cudi. It began when Kanye West declared that Cudi would not appear on Donda 2 because of Cudi’s friendship with Pete Davidson, who is currently dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian. Afterward, Cudi launched his new live music app Encore after securing $9 million in funding. “My number one priority has always been inspiring others and providing them the space to tell their own stories in an authentic and meaningful way,” Cudi said about the move in a statement.

Afterward, Cudi shared a concerning message on Instagram, which sought support from his fans from all over. “God… please watch over me and keep my mind sane,” he wrote. “I could use it right now. To anyone who feels alone, I’m with you and I love you.” Many of his supporters sent him love, including Kanye, who reshared his message on Instagram and wrote, “Love you family.”

You can listen to “Want It Bad” in the video above.