Year: 2022

MSNBC correspondent Ari Melber is a huge fan of hip-hop who loves quoting rappers like Nicki Minaj and using hip-hop songs to make poignant political commentary. In his latest segment, though, he takes it a step farther, pulling quotes from Jay-Z’s triumphant “God Did” verse to break down the US government’s ongoing — and some would say failed — War On Drugs, which has mostly just led to increased incarceration rates for Black Americans, billions of tax dollars dumped into increasingly militarized police forces, and little measurable reduction in drug use in the US.

Melber references numerous lines from the verse, including one in which Jay calls US laws “draconian,” and another that mentions a 1996 60 Minutes interview between Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mike Wallace. Melber breaks down these lines and others as he draws parallels to the drug war and points out how the prohibition of alcohol was reversed, allowing numerous former criminals to become legitimate businessmen with huge returns on their investments.

This leads to a note that while so-called “street drugs” continue to be criminalized and associated with minorities, the biggest drug dealers are, in fact, the pharmaceutical companies that legally manufacture ultra-addictive drugs like Oxycontin and Fentanyl despite being caught unethically using their power and reach to pressure doctors to overprescribe them.

One of the four billionaires that Jay claims responsibility for mentoring in the song, LeBron James, agreed that more people should check it out, sharing the report on Twitter. “Listen!” he implored his followers. “Then listen again to make sure you got the point. HOV DID!!!! And so did the reporter! TALK.” His post prompted two replies, one from Melber, who quoted Jay’s line from “God Did” mentioning LeBron, and Jay-Z himself, who made a rare Twitter appearance to cosign James’ tweet with another quote from the verse.

The report is fascinating and enlightening through and through, and you should really check it out, which you can do up top.

Rejoice, NBA fans: League Pass is slated to be much cheaper this upcoming season. In a recent renewal email, League Pass announced its premium service, which enables users to view games on multiple devices free of commercials, will cost $129.99. Last season, it ran folks $280. Meanwhile, a standard subscription cost $230 in 2021-22 and has been slashed to $99.99 for the 2022-23 season, according to Sportico. A monthly subscription for the standard service will cost $15.

The speculation here is League Pass aiming to compete with fellow sports streaming services, which tend to come in at drastically lower or more frugal price points than League Pass. For instance, ESPN+ is $9.99 per month or $99.99 for an entire year. ESPN+ offers NHL and MLB games, and recently became the host of PGA Tour Live.

League Pass has long been a staple for fans to access out-of-market NBA games throughout the season. But the hefty price point has certainly barred many from purchasing it. While this pay cut won’t fix everything, decreasing various subscription tiers by over 50 percent should help provide greater access for a notable sect of people who couldn’t previously afford it or justifying buying it.

Now, all that’s left is to address the constant freezing, lagging and buffering that seemingly interferes on a nightly basis with the League Pass Experience. At the very least, watching the game’s brightest stars is going to be easier for a chunk of people and that’s good for everyone involved.

St. Petersburg hip-hop group Nu Age Syndicate is combining fresh style with hazy sounds. Formed when its two founding members Chester Watson and Kent Loon were in high school, Nu Age Syndicate (including collaborators Nikola and Kanisona) is on a mission to help each other grow as artists, and help their St. Petersburg scene grow as a hub for hip-hop.

As you can see in the above season premiere episode of Scenes, members of Nu Age Syndicate place an emphasis on individuality and personal aesthetic, encouraging each member of the four-piece to tap into what makes them unique. As they shop for clothes, however, Watson and Loon notice how different their tastes are and encourage each other to wear what feels right for them. “Style is extremely important,” Watson says. “You don’t have to be the same to respect something. And I think [Loon and I] both have that. Our energies, they mesh extremely well.”

Elsewhere in the video, the group hits the studio, where their musical chemistry comes into play. With Watson at the helm of much of the production for Nu Age Syndicate, Loon and the others are able to create the evergreen sound that will still sound fresh for years to come. “Coming from the bottom, St. Petersburg is really lowkey,” Loon says. “When it comes to my music, I want to stamp my music so everything’s timeless. They’re able to listen to a Kent Loon track 20 years from now.”

Check out the full video above.

Kendrick Lamar says that he’s not anyone’s savior on his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but for one writer, he was apparently a lifesaver when a potentially dangerous situation took place during an interview. When a Twitter user posted a prompt to “tell us a true story from your life that sounds made up,” rock critic and author Jessica Hopper shared her own experience about how Kendrick was a real-life superhero.

“I was doing a phone interview with Kendrick Lamar,” her one-tweet story began. “When my then-toddler son appeared holding a very sharp kitchen knife he did not want to let go of.” Anyone with kids can probably relate to how scary it is when their unknowing little ones get to playing around with dangerous objects. Toddlers can be especially stubborn since they are in a time of their lives when they are learning and testing their own sense of agency but still don’t have any idea that certain things can hurt them.

Fortunately for Hopper, it seems Kendrick knew what to do. “Kendrick talked me through safely disarming him,” she wrote, although the story itself was light on details. Presumably, it involved distracting the wee one long enough to get the sharp and pointy bits of the kitchen tool pointing away from the fleshy bits of both mom and son and depositing said implement in the drawer where it belongs.

The story blew up on Twitter, as the kids say, and the responses range from sharing in Cooper’s relief to sardonic jabs at Stan Twitter. Unfortunately, Kendrick himself isn’t on social media to give more answers, but you can check out some of the best responses below.

HBO Max just made it clear that Harley Quinn is safe despite the upheaval at the streamer and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. The hit animated series starring Kaley Cuoco has been renewed for Season 4, but it will arrive with a new showrunner. Harley Quinn writer Sarah Peters will be stepping in for Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumaker who assured fans that the show will continue to be its wild self.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“We are ecstatic that HBO Max wants the story of Harley and Ivy to continue,” Halpern and Schumacker said in a statement. “And we are equally thrilled that this next season will be in great hands with Sarah Peters as our showrunner and Ceci Aranovich overseeing animation production, as they have both greatly influenced the show with their brilliance since the beginning.”

HBO Max also released a statement cementing its commitment to Harley Quinn during a time when DC Comics projects are not exactly in the safest of positions following the shelving of Batgirl.

“Patrick Schumacker, Justin Halpern and their incredible team of artists and writers have created something so explosively funny and original, and we are thrilled to continue this journey with them and the show’s legion of fans,” Senior VP of Comedy and Animation Billy Wee said in a statement. “It has been amazing to watch the show grow and evolve this season and we could not ask for a more talented and dedicated team of collaborators.”

If anything, the renewal should put Harley Quinn fans’ nerves at rest. At least for another season.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Millennials and Gen-Xers have been reeling over the title of Ari Lennox‘s upcoming album, Age/Sex/Location. Named for an introductory question often used in the chatrooms of the ’90s and early aughts, Age/Sex/Location represents a time in Lennox’s life where she feels she wasn’t being her authentic self.

Ahead of the album’s release next Friday, Lennox’s Dreamville label founder J. Cole shared a message from Lennox explaining the experiences from which she drew for the songs on the album.

“I asked Ari what this new album means to her,” said Cole in the caption of the post. “I needed to know cuz I f*ck with it so heavy. What I hear is the highs, lows, joys and pains of dating life in 2022. But her answer made it even deeper for me. Appreciate you @arilennox Looking forward to the rest of the world hearing it.”

In her message, Lennox said the album represents “Transitional space. Very vulnerable codependent and validation seeking part of my life,” she wrote. “I remember the countless times I was kicked out of dating apps because they didn’t think I was really myself, it reminded me of those age/sex/location days where I actually wasn’t being myself in those chat rooms.”

Elsewhere in her message, Lennox explained that she is at a point in her life, in which she is “Allowing accountability and maturing. Allowing growth to happen. Allowing self worth and self love and inner work to happen. Allowing therapy. Allowing dating me to happen. Doing things I like to do whenever I want.”

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

Joining the Game of Thrones franchise seems a bit like going to an exclusive, one-of-a-kind camp. All of the cast is a little nervous but excited to be embarking on this new journey, which could be amazing or horrible, depending on how the camp counselors (HBO) decide to run with it. If you add in the fact that millions of fans are watching your every move, it’s going to be a little stressful.

It comes with the territory, but a former Game of Thrones actress is sending out well-wishes to the next generation of dragon-slayers in House of the Dragon. Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Missandei on the HBO series, is sending a light warning to the current cast, mostly focused on the “passionate” fanbase.

When she was asked in a recent interview about what advice she would give to the House of the Dragon stars, Emmanuel used her words carefully. “I’m sure they already know, but this fanbase, whew, They are passionate and they are amazing,” Emmanuel said. “And who knows how this series will be received, but I hope it’s a huge success. And if it is, it’s an experience, and it will be an adjustment, for sure. If you’re not used to that level of attention or recognition, it’s definitely something.” Other GoT stars have opened up about the scrutiny and trauma they have gone through while starring in one of the biggest TV franchises ever.

Of course, Emmanuel wanted to give some hopeful advice to the cast. “So I guess my advice would be to just enjoy it and look to each other. It was really important that we, as a group, went through all of that together and held each other down.” We all know that the original GoT cast still has a group chat with each other, so it’s important to stick together!

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Last week, Jay-Z made a triumphant return to the forefront of the hip-hop discourse with an awe-inspiring verse on the title track from DJ Khaled’s new album God Did. For nearly four minutes, Jay flexes, reflects, proselytizes, and educates listeners with stunning wordplay and bodacious boasts which had rap fans on Twitter blown away.

On the day of the single’s release, Genius’ Rob Markman posted several clips from an extended discussion he had with Jay-Z’s longtime engineer Young Guru about the song’s creation. In the course of the discussion, Guru breaks down the hidden meanings behind some of the lines, which he says have multiple levels. Beyond just being clever puns, he says, Jay also makes references to the workings of his inner circle which only his closest associates are meant to catch.

Of course, fans wanted more, prompting Markman to ponder dropping the full video, which he did yesterday.

Naturally, the extended cut is home to even more gems, as Guru explains how recording this Jay-Z verse was different than ever before. While it has long been known that the Brooklyn rapper doesn’t write his raps and often records them in one take, Guru says he was floored by Jay’s hunger to lay this one down.

“This one was different because normally, we’ll sit down, we’ll do a song, its three verses, two verses or whatever, and he’ll have a verse and then we’ll figure out what’s next,” he says. “He’s spitting the verse to me — one take. He’s literally asking me, ‘Guru, put the beat on.’ I’m like, ‘Khaled didn’t send me the beat. You didn’t send me the beat. Send me the beat.’ So then he sends me the joint and I started trying to loop it. He was just like, ‘No, no, no, hit Khaled and get the whole instrumental,’ so he could spit the whole verse.”

You can watch the full talk in the video above.

Britney Spears is just days removed from releasing her latest single, the Elton John collaboration “Hold Me Closer.” She has had a good handful of collabs throughout her career, one of the most famous being the 2003 Madonna meet-up “Me Against The Music.” Now, Madonna has declared that she is eager to work with Spears again.

Yesterday, Madonna shared a YouTube video titled “Finally Enough Talk: 50 Questions With Madonna.” The clip is a take on Vogue‘s “73 Questions” series, and at one point, the off-camera interviewer asks Madonna, “Can we ever expect another collaboration with Britney?” Madonna responded, “I am gagging to work with Britney again.”

(“Gagging to,” by the way, is apparently an actual expression. Basically, Madonna really wants to collaborate.)

Elsewhere in the clip, Madonna mentioned sex a lot, as that was her answer to questions about her greatest guilty pleasure, zodiac sign, “current favorite obsession”, life mantra, and secret to success. She was also asked about “a decision [she] made that looking back maybe wasn’t the best idea” and her answer there was, “Getting married… both times.”

As for Spears, “Hold Me Closer” is performing well commercially. It’s currently in contention for a No. 1 debut on the UK chart and rumors indicate it could debut in the top 20 in the US.

Check out the video above.

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