Year: 2022

The public dispute between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian is now on its second day. It began when Kanye shared an Instagram post claiming that Kim was letting their daughter North West use TikTok against his wishes. Now, the rapper is saying that Kim is refusing to let him fly their kids to Chicago so that they can watch his basketball team, Donda Academy, play.

“I WANT TO BRING MY KIDS TO MY HOME TOWN OF CHICAGO TO SEE MY BASKETBALL TEAM PLAY FOR 7 THOUSAND PEOPLE AND KIM IS STOPPING THAT,” Kanye wrote in the post. “HOW IS THIS JOINT CUSTODY?” He shared the message with what appeared to be a screenshot from his upcoming Netflix documentary Jeen-Yuhs.

Kanye’s post comes hours after he thanks far right pundit Candace Owens for being the “only noteworthy” person to defend him in his stance against North using TikTok. “THANK YOU CANDACE FOR BEING THE ONLY NOTEWORTHY PERSON TO SPEAK ON THIS ISSUE,” he said before later adding, “I WILL NO LONGER PUT MY HAND THROUGH A BLENDER TO HUG MY CHILDREN.”

Kim’s responses to Kanye’s claims have been limited. In her first and only statement so far, she said his constant attacks against her are more harmful than North’s TikTok use.

For a few years now, City Girls and Nicki Minaj have not seen eye to eye. Nicki spoke about friction with the female rap duo, which consists of JT and Yung Miami, during a recent interview on The Morning Hustle. “It’s let go,” she said about their issues. “But why would I work with someone who doesn’t like me?” A short time later, Nicki shared an update about the matter on Twitter. “Just had a great convo with @ThegirlJT & @YungMiami305. Let’s move on & make new memories y’all [unicorn emoji],” she wrote. Yung Miami recently spoke about the matter and shared what she learned through it all.

“Be careful of the things you say ‘cause it might catch up with you one day,” Yung Miami said during an interview with The Neighborhood Talk. “I would tell my younger self to just stop trolling, stop being childish, grow up and be mindful of the things you say because everybody is human.”

It seems like things will be smooth sailing for City Girls and Nicki Minaj from here on out. As for Yung Miami, she’s released a pair of songs outside of City Girls over the past few months. The first was “Scrub Tha Ground” with Quavo and the second was “Rap Freaks” which included a line that greatly amused Megan Thee Stallion.

You can listen to Yung Miami’s comments in the video above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For years, Joe Rogan has had it good. He went from NewsRadio alum and former host of a show where people ate bugs to hosting the most popular podcast in the world. He’s said whatever he liked, sometimes about subjects he didn’t know that much about. He’s even recklessly spread COVID misinformation and sang the praises of a drug also used to deworm horses. But in the last couple weeks, his life has stopped being so carefree.

Spotify, which has exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, has long been under fire from scientists, who begged the streamer to do something, anything about its biggest star spreading dangerous nonsense. But it took Neil Young to turn the tides. After the legendary rock god demanded his music be taken down in protest, other followed suit. Rogan apologized twice, first for making a once-in-a-century public health crisis worse, then, on Saturday, for old episodes in which he repeatedly used the N-word.

Now, as per Variety, Spotify, which already pledged to put warnings on any podcast episodes discussing COVID, has done something: On Friday, they yanked 70 episodes of Rogan’s show, ranging from 2009 to 2018 — all from before the pandemic began. Spotify brass haven’t revealed the motives behind their decision, so it’s unclear if they are related to general misinformation or if they involved him dropping the aforementioned epithet.

Rogan, in addressing the N-word controversy, called it “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly,” and explained that he had mistakenly assumed he didn’t need to censor the word when addressing it in non-racist ways. “It’s a very unusual word, but it’s not my word to use,” he said. “I never used it to be racist, because I’m not racist, but whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist,’ you’ve f–ked up, and I clearly have f–cked up.”

Still, that leaves about 1700 episodes still lurking on Spotify’s coffers.

(Via Variety)

It happened very quickly, but it seems like James Harden could be traded by the Brooklyn Nets before next week’s NBA trade deadline. After initial indications said the team did not want to discuss a Harden move before Feb. 10, recent reporting indicates that the Nets are open to receiving calls from the Philadelphia 76ers and seeing if the two sides can work something out.

All of this begs the question: How did we get here so quickly? Yes, the Nets are struggling recently, as the team has lost seven games in a row while Kevin Durant is sidelined with an MCL sprain. But according to Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, Harden’s frustrations go beyond that losing streak.

“While Harden has thrown hints that he’s not crazy about Irving’s part-time status, a source with knowledge of Harden’s thinking said he’s frustrated in general with his Nets tenure,” Schiffer wrote. “He came to Brooklyn expecting to be part of a three-headed monster, yet has played a similar role to what was required of him in Houston: having to be the guy.”

Durant’s absence and Irving’s status as a part-time player — which Schiffer says “hasn’t been as much of a problem as one would expect because he’s played hard when available” — have made it so Harden has to shoulder a gigantic load in Brooklyn. His scoring numbers have gone down this year, as has his efficiency, but Harden has still produced for the Nets, as he’s averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 assists, and eight rebounds in 37 minutes per game while connecting on 41.4 percent of his attempts from the field and 33.2 percent of his attempts from three.

If rumors are true and Philly is a potential landing spot before the deadline, Harden would be able to defer a whole lot of responsibility to Joel Embiid and, if he’s not included in a trade, Tyrese Maxey. But if that does not happen, and he stays in Brooklyn, Harden can at least take some solace in knowing Durant’s return isn’t too far away.

Lizzo fans have been waiting patiently for a follow-up to her breakout 2019 album, Cuz I Love You, and that next project might finally be here. Following up a joint single with Cardi B in 2021, “Rumors,” she seemed poise to begin a new album cycle. But whether it was the hateful comments and backlash, or just more pandemic logistic delays, fans kept waiting for more new music or news of a longer release, and it never came.

That might be about to change though. In a brand new, sexy new teaser, Lizzo is glowing and basking in her completely naked body while a clip of a new single plays in the background. “If you love me, you love all of me — or none of me at all,” she sings. She also posted a lengthy caption with the clips. “If you love me… you love all of me. You don’t get to pick and choose. We should be unconditionally loving of one another, starting with being unconditionally loving to ourselves. Take a moment today and think about the conditions we hold so tightly to that keep us from the freedom of true love. Do you really wanna be so tightly wound? Free yourself in love. You deserve it.”

Check out that sizzling video below:

For Lizzo, using the internet to talk about music and food comes very naturally. You might even catch her posting a mystery man, her own Baby Yoda costume on Halloween, or her booty as a paintbrush. With a new single, and hopefully a new album, on the way very soon, odds are she’ll be in fine posting form, helping us all survive the boring weekdays of 2022. Check out her new video above and stay tuned for the single, which is most likely called “If You Love Me.”

After going three years without new music, Big Sean has been treating his fans well, having released two projects within the last two years. It started with his fifth album Detroit 2, which he dropped in 2020. The following year, he connected with Hit-Boy for their EP What You Expect. During a recent Instagram Live with Queen Naija, which came after she and Sean released their single, “Hate Our Love,” Sean shared some news about a project his fans have long awaited.

During the livestream, Sean said that his time in the studio has been spent completing his sixth solo album and a new Twenty88 album with Jhene Aiko. “We’ve been working on it for a little bit,” he said about the latter. “It’s coming along though.” Back in 2016, Sean and Jhene released their first project as Twenty88. Since then, they’ve released music under that name on two occasions: first, in 2017 with “OLLA (Only Lovers Left Alive)” from Jhene’s album, Trip, and again later that year with “Same Time, Pt. 1” from Sean’s album, I Decided.

Big Sean’s reveal comes after he and Jhene were mistaken for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. during their appearance at a Los Angeles Rams football game last month.

You can watch Sean speak about the Twenty88 album in the video above.

Lately, news stories about Kanye West have been mostly about his new relationship with either actress Julia Fox or about his upcoming album Donda 2. He even revealed the latter will be released on February 22. However, on Friday, Kanye took a moment to hop on Instagram and address a matter regarding his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and their daughter North West. In the post, Kanye claimed Kim was letting North use TikTok against his wishes, but Kim quickly responded and said that West’s constant attacks against her are far more harmful to North than TikTok.

Kanye isn’t letting up though. In a new post on Instagram, he thanked far right pundit Candace Owens for “being the only noteworthy person” to defend his stance against North’s TikTok use. In a pair of tweets, Owens wrote, “There’s no 8 year old in the world that needs social media. Go color.” She added, “Kim is wrong on this one. The psychological effects of social media on young girls is real and documented. It’s actually Kanye that is trying to protect his daughter in this regard and Kim is spinning this as ‘obsession’ and ‘control.’ There are other creative outlets for kids.”

“THANK YOU CANDACE FOR BEING THE ONLY NOTEWORTHY PERSON TO SPEAK ON THIS ISSUE,” West wrote in his post thanking Owens. “THERE’S A LOT OF CELEBRITIES SCARED TO SAY SOMETHING IN PUBLIC BUT THEY’LL TEXT ME IN PRIVATE AND SAY THEIR ON MY SIDE.” He continued, “I WILL NO LONGER PUT MY HAND THROUGH A BLENDER TO HUG MY CHILDREN. MY CHILDREN MY MOTHER TOOK ME TO CHICAGO WHEN I WAS 3 AND TOLD MY DAD IF HE CAME TO CHICAGO HE WOULD NEVER SEE ME AGAIN SO I BOUGHT THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR. I DREAM OF A WORLD WHERE DAD’S CAN STILL BE HEROES.”

Kanye and Owens have a history together. Back in 2018, he fell sway to her far right beliefs, only to turn on her in spectacular fashion. Every now and then they’ve patched things up, including when he was briefly booted from Twitter.

We all know the story of Kanye West gifting not just his new girlfriend Julia Fox a Birkin for her birthday, but also gifting several more to her friends. That’s a grand gesture if I’ve ever heard of one, and like most epic shopping stunts, it took a professional to pull it off. Anyone with even a slight familiarity with Birkins knows they’re hard to come by, especially the rare ones, so style reporters immediately wanted to know the story behind the bags. Complex Style editor Aria Hughes tracked down Michelle Lovelace, aka Style By Meech and @meechthestylist on Instagram and got the story of her birthday Birkin quest.

Meech was having a tough year already due to Instagram shutting down her account with 100K+ followers, and imposters immediately trying to take over her name afterward. As she was trying to face down the monster task of starting over from scratch, a call from Kanye turned her 2022 around fast. Working at lightning speed to source and vet the rare Birkins that Kanye wanted in just a matter of four days, Meech told Hughes that she flew to several different states to retrieve the bags herself (!) and then personally delivered them to Kanye in New York. But after she lined them up, at first Ye didn’t realize how much work went into Meech’s delivery.

“I lined them up and he was basically like, ‘Cool. Thanks,’” she told Complex. “But then later we were in the lobby with Julia and his assistant was like this is who got the bags, and Julia was like, ‘Oh my God, how did you make this happen? I know these bags are so hard to get.’ And then Kanye looks at me and is like, ‘Wait. These are hard to get and I just dismissed you like that?’ And I was like ‘Yeah.’ And he just gave me a big bear hug. I was freaking out. I was like ‘Oh my God. Kanye just hugged me.’”

We love a happy ending! Check out the full story here and go support Meech by giving her a follow on her new Instagram page right here.

Despite being a disgraced former president reduced to ranting at strangers in resorts in which he now lives, Donald Trump continues to lord over the Republican party. Highers-up still jet down to Mar-A-Lago to kiss his ring; lawmakers being federally investigated over ties to sex trafficking rings still sing his praises. Then there are all those MAGA-fied candidates — cut-rate imitators fighting for his endorsement. But one is perhaps too out-there even for Donald Trump.

As per The Daily Beast, that person is Josh Mandel, a Rand Paul-approved candidate gunning for the Ohio Senate seat soon to be vacated by departing Republican Rob Portman. It’s a crowded race and Mandel — a former representative and state treasurer who BoingBoing dubbed “the most idiotic robot running for Senate in Ohio” — was once the frontrunner. But Trump has wavered on whether or not to formally give him his blessing, in part because people opposed to Mandel keep feeding him dodgy rumors about his “f*cking weird” sex life.

Sources tell The Daily Beast that Trump, a lover of gossip, has “privately regurgitated, often in disgust, a wide range of unverified, often completely unvetted, and lurid rumors about the MAGA candidate.” One source told the publication that Trump “has used the term ‘f*cking weird’ to describe Josh Mandel more than once,” and that he “has talked about [Mandel] and sex in the same sentence more times than I would have liked to hear.” (Reminder, by the way, that Trump has also been credibly accused of sexual misconduct by over two dozen women.)

Details about what those rumors are remain unknown, but it’s not just Mandel’s allegedly salacious sex life that have turned Trump off:

Mandel doesn’t have the right “visuals” or “look,” and could come off poorly on TV. Having met with and talked to Mandel, Trump felt there was just something about Mandel and his personality that rubbed him the wrong way. Also, the former president and current leader of the Republican Party has sensed a conspicuous dearth of “charisma” coming from this particular GOP Senate hopeful.

Still, Trump is known for his unpredictable changes of heart. There are still four months left before the Ohio primary, so who knows if he’ll go with one of the other many Trumpist hopefuls, or if he’ll suddenly decide those questionable rumors about Mandel are actually a plus.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Skrillex has, for the most part, been one of music’s beloved figures. As an early star of the dubstep movement, and a former post-hardcore kid, Sonny Moore has worked with everyone from Diplo to Ellie Goulding, and achieved a lot of success all on his own, but his most recent collaboration has the internet up in arms. Last night, notorious quack “Dr.” Jordan Peterson — whose various, controversial claims have been repeatedly debunked by real scientists and doctors — posted a photo of himself and Skrillex posing together with the caption “Guess who.”

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Skrillex condones everything that Peterson stands for, but it is certainly not the friendship most people would choose to make public. Though Dr. Jordan Peterson was a professor at University Of Toronto up until recently, he retired from the role in January 2022 citing “the appalling ideology of diversity, inclusion and equity” that is “demolishing education and business.” This is from an op-ed he himself wrote, and that is up in the dek, so needless to say it encapsulates his views to a T. So yes, Skrillex fans are pretty unhappy, but some are just here to get the jokes off. Check out some the reactions below.