Month: January 2023

21 Savage, can you do something for yourself? Find a way to keep cool when on a recorded line. The rapper, real name Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, may have plans to live a long life, but it might just be spent behind bars if he keeps it up.

A heated exchange with a user on the audio-based social media platform Clubhouse could land him and an unknown associate in hot water. Savage’s sassy flexing of machismo end in several unintended emotional confessions on alleged criminal activities in Chicago.

As tempers flared, 21 Savage screamed to the user, “You waited for this moment your whole life, so you could argue with a n**** on Clubhouse.” He later said, “You keep letting all these Chicago n****s boost your head up, like y’all n****s ain’t dying in real life. Stop playing.”

The rapper then let slip, “Every n**** on we beef with, 30 of they n****s get smoked and don’t nothing happen to us. In real life. It’s real life.” Savage ended with, “Aye, cap, you from Chicago. I advise you to shut the f*ck up, cause the n****s that I f*ck with up there spanking sh*t, so stop playing. Y’all ain’t spanking nothing, n****. You will die.”

Given 21 Savage’s past criminal record and the current political climate in Atlanta, as seen in Young Thug’s ongoing RICO case, he needs to step away from social media.

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

No one seems to be claiming that TLC’s MILF Manor, which premiered on January 15, is prestige TV. The show’s essentially a 30 Rock bit that’s springing to life in a series that follows MILFs as they embark upon a getaway with 20-something bros. There’s a “shocking” twist that has been confirmed as the participants’ sons landing in the “dating” pool, so it sounds like maybe this will hold people’s attention spans more than HBO Max’s FBoy Island did. I mean, these are silly shows, and everyone (especially Jennifer Coolidge) is aware of “MILF” means.

The women on this show embrace the term, obviously, and no one seems to be getting hurt. They’re all in on the joke, but a segment on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus takes umbrage with the meaning of “MILF” — specifically the “F” part. In the below clip, host Harris Faulkner appeared to complain about a double standard, which is that she can’t “talk about faith” without people complaining: “We can’t be bold in faith, but we want to know what the F stands for in MILF? Disgusting.”

It’s something, alright. There’s not too much of consequence here, it’s just WTF stuff. There are so many hard-hitting issues to be covered, but the F word is getting even more coverage on Fox News.

Like Aaliyah once said, “If at first, you don’t succeed, you can brush it off and try again.” That seems to be the strategy the Lovers And Friends Festival is going with this spring (you just know Aaliyah herself would have been on the lineup), bringing back the nostalgic event for a second attempt at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on May 6. Today, the fest announced its millennial-baiting lineup, which features TRL faves like Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, and of course, the fest’s inspiration, Usher, whose 2004 hit is the festival’s namesake.

Unfortunately, Lovers And Friends Festival has had a bumpy road so far, starting with its first planned iteration in Carson, California in 2020. Numerous artists on the original lineup initially denied their involvement after the show was announced before their respective booking agents let them know they were on the c/o 2000 fever dream lineup. Once they were confirmed, demand for tickets skyrocketed, prompting the organizers to add a second day before the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on the whole event.

However, a revamped version of the festival came back in 2022, moving to Las Vegas and reverting back to a one-day fest. This turned out to be kind of a bad idea, as logistics for the fest were kind of a mess, leaving fans without shade or water in the 100-plus-degree desert heat (which tends to go the other way at night, leaving fans freezing instead). Then, there were reports of gunfire, causing stampedes and thankfully minor injuries.

Hopefully, they can learn from those mistakes as they return this spring and give fans the show they deserve because as an elder millennial (or Xennial or whatever you call us), I for one am extremely tired of having the rug pulled out from under me. Let us have something nice, for once. Please and thanks.

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

Megyn Kelly’s got “giant penis” on the brain. The former Fox News host, who has practically made a career out of letting controversial things spill out of her mouth — like the time she admitted that she doesn’t understand why dressing in blackface is racist (and lost her gig at NBC because of it) — is making headlines again for her thoughts on “Embrace,” a new sculpture in Boston that memorializes a famous photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. with his arm around his beloved wife, Coretta Scott King.

The photo was taken during a press conference shortly after it was announced that King was being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and shows King embracing his wife.

While not everyone is a fan of the new monument, which was unveiled on Friday in Boston — the city where the couple first met — Mediaite reports that Kelly took her artistic commentary to another level on Monday’s episode of her SiriusXM radio show. As she explained:

So they wanted to do a statue. They hired Hank Willis Thomas to create this sculpture that would wind up in Boston Common. Sitting on the 1965 Freedom Plaza, which honors 69 local civil rights leaders… It was meant to be just, be the arms and the hands of the hug. What it looks like, I’m just gonna say it — is a giant penis being held by two hands.

Look at this. Look, YouTubers, I’m sorry, but that’s a — that looks like a giant penis right there. I’m sorry.

Megyn Kelly: Keeping it classy.

Kelly’s guests included two editors from the National Review, a conservative news magazine. Editor-in-chief Rich Lowry agreed with Kelly: “This is why you need to run stuff by people close to you — your spouse. You know, ‘What do you think of the design, honey? Well, it looks like a schlong, dear.’” You can watch the full conversation here.

Others also took issue with the statue, but for different reasons.

(Via Mediaite)

If you Google “smartest dog breeds,” most lists you’ll find put border collies in the No. 1 spot, followed in some order by poodles, German shepherds and golden retrievers.

But a new study of canine cognition from the University of Helsinki puts a whole different breed at the top of the ladder—one that most of us have probably seen before but haven’t heard the name of—the Belgian Malinois.

Best known as a police or security dog, the Belgian Malinois is a shepherd breed that looks very similar to a German shepherd. Both breeds are of similar height and coloring, but the Malinois is lighter weight and its ears are more triangular-shaped, according to the American Kennel Club.

So what is it that makes the Belgian Malinois more intelligent than other dog breeds?

The study published in Scientific Reports analyzed 1,002 dogs from 13 different breeds using a battery of smartDOG cognition tests. These tests involve food reward tasks that determine a dog’s capacity for memory, problem-solving, impulse control, reading human gestures, copying human behavior and logical reasoning. Despite a wide field of research on dogs, according to the study, only a handful of studies have examined cognition of specific breeds instead of breed groups. Additionally, not much empirical research has been done on nonsocial cognitive traits such as memory, inhibitory control, spatial problem-solving and logical reasoning—all of which were covered in this study.

The researchers identified a few different tests as signifying high intelligence. For the most significant measure of intelligence, logical reasoning, the study revealed no significant difference between the dog breeds. So the three tests the authors singled out instead for measuring and comparing intelligence, according to The Telegraph, were:

– A V-detour test, in which a dog had to detour around a transparent V-shaped fence to get to a food reward, showing some problem-solving ability.

– A human gesture reading test, in which a dog’s response to five gestures—constant pointing, brief pointing, pointing with the foot, pointing at something while facing another direction and following a human’s gaze—was measured.

– An unsolvable task test, in which a dog tries to access food in an unopenable box, measuring independence and how quickly a dog asked a human for help.

The Belgian Malinois scored 35 out of a possible 39 points on these three tasks, making it the top scorer for high intelligence overall. Border collies came in second with 26 points and hovawarts came in third at 25 points.

The study authors point out that there are strengths and weaknesses in most breeds. Some score very high on some tests and very low on others. Some breeds saw middle-of-the-road scores across most tests.

According to IFLScience, one weakness the Malinois showed was in the cylinder test, in which a dog is taught to retrieve a piece of food from inside an opaque cylinder. The opaque cylinder then gets replaced with a transparent one to see if the dog will go around to the end of the cylinder to retrieve the treat, as it did with the opaque one, or try to go directly through the side of the cylinder to get to it. This test measures inhibition, and the Malinois scored among the lowest of all breeds on it.

Every dog has its bright and dim spots, but it’s clear why the Malinois is a dog of choice for security work. High intelligence, of course, but even being low on inhibition can be seen as a plus for a working dog that needs to be highly responsive and act quickly when needed.

“The Belgian Shepherd Malinois stood out in many of the cognitive tasks, having very good results in a majority of the tests,” study author and owner and CEO of smartDOG Dr. Katriina Tiira told The Telegraph.

“Border Collies also performed well in many of the tests,” she added.

Another day, another festival announcement. The latest is from Goldenvoice’s Just Like Heaven Festival 2023. While other festivals have broadened their musical lineup to match the multiple segments across the sonic landscape, the organizers behind Just Like Heaven stand firm in their indie rock and electro-dance roots.

The one-day event is slated to take place on Saturday, May 13. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will headline the festival. MGMT will perform their critically acclaimed 2008 debut album Oracular Spectacular as part of their set. Near the top of the poster’s bill is the band Future Islands. Just Like Heaven will be held inside Brookside at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

2000s-era post-punk revival fans are in for a treat as The Walkmen will be reuniting for a special set. Additional performers on the lineup include Empire Of The Sun, M83, Hot Chip, Caribou, The Bravery, Fever Ray, Peaches, Azealia Banks, Ladytron, STRFKR, Metronomy, The Faint, The Sounds, and Cults.

The festival will also feature a live podcast taping of How Long Gone hosted by Chris Black and Jason Stewart.

Tickets for Just Like will be available for purchase starting on January 20 at 10 a.m. PT. To be added to the queue for tickets, click here.

Memphis rap icon Gangsta Boo was laid to rest this weekend. At her funeral Saturday (January 15), however, technical difficulties caused some video tributes from her bandmates and other prominent Southern rap personalities to be cut from the service. According to TMZ, the videos from Juicy J, Drink Champs cohost DJ EFN, and Yelawolf had to be nixed as the video files were unable to be played on the church’s projector. Instead, they can be viewed in full on TMZ.

In Juicy’s video, he says, “Rest in peace to the queen of Memphis… Prayers to the family, the friends, the fans… We lost a great one.” Meanwhile, Yelawolf’s video gets interrupted by a semi truck’s horn prompting him to joke that it’s Gangsta Boo herself, getting in one last jibe from beyond.

Although these names were absent from the service, one of Boo’s more recent collaborators — and arguable heir apparent — GloRilla was able to attend, telling reporters outside the church, “She’s still alive. You know what I’m saying? Big Memphis. We gonna keep representing. Long live Lola. Big Memphis. Let’s go!”

News of Gangsta Boo’s death was met with a wave of dismay from across the rap community. Collaborators such as Big Boi from Outkast, Latto, Missy Elliott, Monica, Project Pat, Run The Jewels, and her Three 6 Mafia bandmates all paid tribute on social media.

As music festival season in the US begins just a few months away, we’re starting to see more K-pop acts in the lineup.

Last week, it was revealed Blackpink would be headlining Coachella’s Saturday lineup as the first K-pop act and girl group to do so. Now, another girl group is on their way to being the first at this year’s Governors Ball.

Unveiled just hours ago today (January 17), SM Entertainment’s youngest power players, Aespa, will be performing on the Main Stage as part of its Saturday line up on June 10. The girl group is considered one of the biggest acts of the day ahead of other artists such as Rina Sawayama, Lil Baby, and Odesza.

“We’re super psyched to perform at Gov Ball,” the group said in an official press release. “Can’t wait to see our New York fans and have an amazing time at the festival! We’ll make sure to bring an amazing performance, so let’s have fun with everything we got!”

Last year, Aespa made their US music festival debut at Coachella as special guests during 88rising’s Head In The Clouds set. Now, the leading fourth-generation girl group continues their music festival high with a set of their own at Governors Ball.

Tickets are available for purchase now exclusively for Citi cardmembers from today, January 17th at 10 a.m. ET. Fan Early Access tickets will be available on January 19th at 10 a.m. ET. General public ticket sales will take place at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 19th.

The Disney+ MCU shows continue to pile up, and it’s hard to keep up with the sheer quantity. Still, those first few projects entertained with pleasant twists, including one genuinely surprising cameo from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That would be the moment when Julia Louis-Dreyfus arrives as Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (you can call her “Val”), and the Veep and Seinfeld star has spoken at length at how much fun it was to be smuggled onto set in one of the MCU’s better kept secrets.

Val was meant to debut in Black Widow‘s post-credit scene, in which she also talked to unenthused recruit Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) while she visited Natasha Romanoff’s grave (signaling Scarlett Johansson’s formal MCU exit). As it turns out, Val’s assembled group of ex-villain-types will take flight in the Thunderbolts movie, where they’ll presumably take on government-sponsored missions. In a wide-ranging Variety piece about her move into movies, Louis-Dreyfus says that she lobbied hard to “fight” in Thunderbolts, but now she realizes that getting jacked must happen. Oh boy:

In another unexpected move, Louis-Dreyfus has lobbied to kick some ass. “I pitched it; I told them I really want to fight. I haven’t seen the script yet — we’ll see if that happens,” she says. But she changes her tune when she thinks about the possible physical demands of a Marvel role: “”Ugh. I guess I’d better get in shape.”

Valentina previously swathed herself in all-black overcoats, so “jacked” wasn’t part of the equation, but fighting is a whole other ballgame. If you see how Louis-Dreyfus is clutching those Emmys in the photo at the top ^^ of this post, however, it’s obvious that she’s no stranger to being able to kick some butt. Hopefully, we’ll find out more when Thunderbolts starts filming this summer.

(Via Variety)

DJ Jazzy Jeff opened up about his experience with COVID during a new interview with AllHipHop. For those who might not remember, he was one of the first public figures to contract the disease at the start of the pandemic. It also hit him harder than fans might have known.

“I was one of the first people to get sick, and I almost didn’t make it,” Jeff said. “I got sick the day the world shut down. That was the day it hit me. I actually did a ski resort in Ketchum, Idaho, which was the nation’s first hot spot. I came home and realized the world wasn’t right.”

“We kind of looked at each other like, ‘OK, the store is going to be crazy tomorrow,’” he continued, telling a story about his wife. “The next words that came out of my mouth was, ‘Babe, I don’t feel good.’ And she was like, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘I’m just a little achy.’ She said, ‘OK, we have everything we need. Let’s go home and you can take a hot shower.’”

Jazzy Jeff also noted that, despite going to the doctor, it was written off as double pneumonia.

“Long story short, because I was in the first wave of people to get sick, I knew how serious this was very, very early,” he also shared. “I was like, ‘I know the world is not going to be in a place like we know it for at least two years.’ I knew that in April 2020 just because of how sick I was.”

Given his early experience with Covid, he appeared in a “town hall” type discussion with Dr. Fauci and LL Cool J to speak to the importance of vaccines in 2021.