Month: January 2023

(SPOILERS for this week’s BMF episode will be found below.)

It took a little over two years, but ladies and gentlemen, BMF is back! The show, which is loosely based on the story of Demetrius “Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory’s Black Mafia Family, returns with most of the original cast intact. Meech is leading the way for The 50 Boyz as Terry has decided to live an honest life and take up a new car service company with his father Charles. With Terry gone, B-Mickie takes the reigns as Meech’s right-hand man and Detective Bryant is still trying to track Meech down and destroy The 50 Boyz. With all this in mind, there were some losses in season one of BMF. Kato was killed by B-Mickie who was left with no choice due to her betrayal of the group. Lamar, the show’s clear-cut villain, was also killed in the season one finale (or so we thought) during a final face-to-face battle with Meech.

Each week for the ‘BMF’ To Blowin’ Money Fast series, we’ll recap the episode by looking at a few key things to see how they hurt Meech and Terry’s money-making goals. Each item will be marked as a profit or a loss, the former keeping them in the black and the latter pushing them into the red. Throughout the course of the season, something that was once unprofitable could turn profitable, and vice versa, but we’ll have to wait and see what that might be. Let’s get into it for season two, episode one.

The Black Mafia Family

PROFIT

There was no mention of the Black Mafia Family for all of season one of BMF. As history tells it, BMF did not come to fruition until the 1980s, and with season one taking place in the ’70s, this absence makes sense. Nonetheless, the Black Mafia Family is here. Meech believes that he successfully killed Lamar, leaving the rival 12th Street Boyz with no leader. In a strategic move, he’s able to form a relationship with K-9, Detroit’s lone drug dealer with a connection to the Colombians, and use the new supply of drugs that comes with it to convince 12 Street Boyz and The 50 Boyz to set aside their differences and unite as the Black Mafia Family. It’s a really smart move from Meech. Eliminate the competition without having to hurt anyone, but instead, by convincing them to join your squad. With Meech coordinating the move, he remains on top as the one who will most likely reap the most benefits. Furthermore, due to the increased quality and supply of K-9’s product, BMF is sure to have no problem moving their weight which means there’ll be plenty of money to go around. So everyone from K-9 to B-Mickie will be very happy.

The Flenory Car-Ride Service

PROFIT

For what it’s worth, it’s probably best that Terry stays out of the streets. He has his baby and girlfriend to take care of, as well as his parents, and he is still dealing with permanent eye damage that resulted from a bad surgery that was conducted after his shooting in season one. In starting the Flenory car-ride service with his father Charles, Terry is now able to live an honest, and more importantly, safe life in Detroit. Sure, Meech clowns him for it (which we’ll get into in a bit), but it’s less risky than a life in the streets. We know the true story of the Black Mafia Family ends with Meech and Terry reuniting, but maybe Terry’s time with the car service is what kept him alive long enough to eventually return to BMF and have success there. By giving him enough money to manage his day-to-day life, while also keeping him away from harm, the car service has a unique level of profitability for Terry.

Meech And Terry’s Frailed Relationship

LOSS

Talk about tension huh? From the sheer look of disgust on Meech’s face as he watches Terry stare down Markaisha (played by La La Anthony) at the basketball game, to ignoring Terry’s first bump outside of the gym, to Meech throwing a wad of cash in Terry’s face and calling him a “broke ass n****,” it’s very clear that Meech and Terry are still on bad terms. At the moment, their failed relationship doesn’t really interfere with the growing drug operation, but in the long run, I can see that changing. In season one, we saw how Terry brought balance and level-headedness to the decision-making in the crew. Where Meech was often impulsive and instinctive, Terry was calculated and patient — whether it was about money moves, retaliating against enemies, or forming and/or ending relationships. Without Terry’s presence, Meech could make a decision that could cost the group a lot. Meech and Terry made a lot together, but apart, that may not be the case.

K-9

LOSS

“K-9? This n**** that killed somebody over a f*ckin’ basketball game?? What’s he gonna do to us if we f*ck sh*t up?” That was Terry’s response to Meech’s idea that they rejoin forces at the top of BMF, and his concerns are absolutely warranted. Killing someone on church grounds over a high school basketball game is as bizarre as it gets, but that’s exactly what K-9 is. Where Lamar took on the role of the hot-headed menace in season one, K-9 is now that at a much higher level for season two. The only difference now is that he’s on Meech’s team, which on the surface seems like a beneficial thing, but it could be problematic quickly if things don’t go according to plan. To start the season two premiere, we watched K-9 shoot and kill a basketball coach over a disagreement. Toward the end of the episode, we learn that K-9 killed Big L for Meech and he shares the news by gifting Meech a chopped-off piece of her lip. K-9 is far from your civil and level-headed guy and that could prove to be a big issue for Meech if things aren’t absolutely perfect.

B-Mickie And Detective Bryant

LOSS

During season one, Kato was blackmailed by Lamar and that led to her aiding his unsuccessful pursuit of Meech. This season, B-Mickie is now the blackmailed individual, and this time it’s being conducted by Detective Bryant. In the season two premiere, Bryant reveals that he retrieved the gun that B-Mickie used to kill both Kato and Jay Mo. That means that B-Mickie must fork over all the information that Bryant wants to avoid a double-homicide charge. It leaves B-Mickie in a very tricky situation, and though he tries to play both sides in episodes, it becomes very clear by the end that it won’t be a good angel for him in the long run. This is especially obvious to B-Mickie as Bryant holds a gun under his chin while warning B-Mickie of the consequences of failing to bring him info about Meech. B-Mickie could succumb to Bryant’s pressures, leaving BMF in grave danger of coming to an end. Knowing that Bryant is still around for Terry’s 2005 arrest, I’m curious to see how B-Mickie works his way out of this jam — if he does at all.

Lamar

LOSS

This is bad. This is bad. This is bad.

Season one concluded under the assumption that Lamar had been killed in a shootout with Meech, however, it all seemed too good to be true. True to the instincts, we see Lamar is actually laying in a hospital bed on life support. Bryant and another officer secretly have Lamar on hospital supervision under a fake name in hopes that he wakes up to share details about who shot him. The simple fact that he’s not dead is an extremely bad situation for almost all of the main characters on BMF. Lamar will certainly return to the streets and try to kill Meech, which leaves him, Terry, and their families at risk as well. The 50 Boyz and 12 Street’s partnership will certainly not receive any support from Lamar and he will do his best to tear it apart. There’s no telling how far Lamar will go to have his way, and that right there is enough of a concern for BMF.

New episodes of ‘BMF’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

Queen Naija is offering fans a fun start to the new year with her brand new song, “Let’s Talk About It.” The fiery track serves as a force to be reckoned with as she doesn’t take any bullsh*t from the men of the world.

“Always think you know it all / You don’t know what’s best for you / Why you scared of therapy? / Probably can’t accept the truth,” she burns in the opening verse. However, the smooth and calming R&B beat eases some of the tension off of the biting lyricism.

It was co-written by Queen Naija and Mike Woods (Ty Dolla $ign) with production by Oak Felder (Kehlani, Nicki Minaj).

The music video for “Let’s Talk About It” builds on those themes. It opens with a supercut of flashbacks from a relationship’s toxic moments, as Naija and the man (played by Lil Meech) sit on opposite ends of the couch, presumably after a fight or breakup. From there, Naija sings from the back of a car as she shines under neon lights and stares in the rearview mirror.

She also watches his social media story, catching the f*ckboy in the process — and decides to teach him a lesson about two-timing women.

Listen to Queen Naija’s new song “Let’s Talk About It” above.

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

Netflix’s newest murder mystery sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, hit the streaming platform last month — giving fans a chance to try and spot all the easter eggs that director Rian Johnson planted.

As the film’s title was derived from a song by The Beatles (“Glass Onion”), viewers who loved the fab four caught some other references to the band that people might’ve missed. An eagle-eyed Twitter user was curious about the scene where the guests meet the billionaire character, Miles Bron, who is playing “Blackbird.” (Which also holds more clues, but we’ll get to that.)

“One lovely touch in GLASS ONION is that when we meet Miles Bron, he’s playing Blackbird on ‘the guitar Paul wrote it on’. But he’s playing right-handed, while Macca is perhaps the most famous left-handed musician of all time. A clue, @rianjohnson, or did he just have it refitted?” the user asked.

Johnson responded, confirming the suspicion. “One for the Beatles heads!” he said. The director, who previously titled the Knives Out franchise after a Radiohead song, settled on The Beatles for the follow-up, after scrolling through his songs for the word “glass” — according to Esquire.

Anyways, back to “Blackbird.” Not only does the song appear on the same album as “Glass Onion,” but one of the other characters, Birdie Jay, described it as her “favorite.” However, during the movie, it’s revealed she has some problematic posts, showing that the original song’s message on the Civil Rights Movement went completely over her head.

However, other viewers caught the moment’s irony. Continue scrolling for some reactions to The Beatles bit in Glass Onion.

Hours after an encouragingly positive update from medical personnel on the health of Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin, the NFL announced Thursday night that the Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals will not resume and will be cancelled. This comes after considerable speculation on how the league would address the on-field issues created by the suspended game, with all acknowledging that, of course, the football-related fallout pales in importance to Hamlin’s health.

The NFL noted in its announcement that neither Buffalo nor Cincinnati was in danger of missing the postseason, and there would be no elimination or qualification for the playoffs based on the result. In addition, the decision to cancel also allows for the postseason schedule to remain in place, but there are complicating factors with regard to seeding and fairness. As such, NFL clubs will meet on Friday to consider a resolution from Commissioner Roger Goodell, with approval from the league’s Competition Committee, with two prominent elements in play. The most prominent is that there are three scenarios in which the AFC Championship Game would be played at a neutral site if home-field advantage could have been affected by the Bills-Bengals result.

Here are those three scenarios from the NFL release:

Scenario 1: Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 2: Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 3: Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Each of these scenarios is quite plausible, of course, and the league needs to get this proposal firmly implemented before Week 18’s slate of games begins on Saturday. In addition to the neutral-site scenario, the NFL also proposes that a win by the Baltimore Ravens over the Bengals in Week 18 would create a scenario in which a coin toss would determine the site of a potential Wild Card matchup between the Bengals and Ravens. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or the two teams won’t meet in the Wild Card round, the scheduling reverts back to normal procedure.

“As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities,” said Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. “I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking the ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances.”

All told, this was probably the best solution for the NFL in that a neutral-site AFC Championship Game avoids the scenario where the Bengals or Bills had to travel to Kansas City to play a game that could have taken place in either Cincinnati or Buffalo had the Week 17 result been finalized. This also allows the league to keep a semblance of scheduling normalcy and, while it isn’t perfect, there were no perfect options in this particular case.

One thing not mentioned in the NFL’s release is the 1-seed in the AFC and how they will handle the bye week for the AFC’s top team, which Buffalo would have been with back-to-back wins but, as of now, would be the Chiefs if they win on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Kate Bush had quite a year in 2022. Upon the premiere of season 4 of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things, her song “Running Up That Hill” made a resurgence after 37 years. This year, some fans are certain we haven’t seen the last of Bush.

Some of Bush’s fans have taken to social media to share theories that Bush is one of several competitors on the latest season of The Masked Singer UK. In a recent episode, a singer dressed as a singing otter sang “I’m Always Here” by Jimi Jamison, which gained a lot of popularity in the ’90s as it was used as the theme song for Baywatch.

“Can’t believe we live in a world where it’s entirely possible Kate Bush is on The Masked Singer UK, I felt a fool suggesting it earlier but now I’m convinced that’s her voice and diction,” said one fan.

Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber quoted the fan’s tweet, adding that he also believes that the mysterious creature is Bush, given her eccentric nature.

“Kate Bush, lover of the absurd and theatrical, has been gearing up in costume to perform quirky songs on British television her entire adult life,” he said. “This honestly tracks.”

Check out the clip above and let us know what you think.

Nicki Minaj officially broke a new record this week after unseating Missy Elliott as the longest-charting female rapper on Billboard’s Hot 100. Minaj’s song, “Super Freaky Girl,” charted again this week, earning the hit a 20-week total. It previously peaked at No. 1.

“@NickiMinaj becomes the female rapper with the most consecutive years charting a single on the Hot 100 (2010 – 2023) breaking a tie with Missy Elliott (1996* – 2008),” Chart Data reported.

Still, the two rappers have had nothing but respect for one another throughout the years. Elliott even sent her best wishes to Minaj when she received MTV’s Video Vanguard Award at last year’s VMA’s.

“Congratulations to @NICKIMINAJ on this achievement!” Elliott tweeted at the time. She was the recipient of the same award in 2019, adding to their career similarities.

“Mumbling & cackling??? nah omg thank you Missy. You kicked down this [door]. Nothing but Love & Respect for your iconic artistry. #VMAs #NickiVmas #VideoVanguard,” Minaj replied.

Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” previously broke the record upon its release to become the first female solo rap song to debut at No. 1 since Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998. However, after the news broke, many of Minaj’s fans thought Elliott was shading the fellow rapper after asking what the difference between a hit and a classic record was.

“I love so many of yall answers,” Elliott later added, clearing the air about any rumors of bad blood. “This was a back & forth with my producer friends over music. Is there a difference between Classics & hits & he said it’s more preference. So y’all helped. A few chose 2 be hurtful but understand this came from a positive place.”

The 2022 NFL regular season comes to an end this weekend and, ironically, the calendar has already flipped to 2023. The final slate of the 2022 calendar year was quite kind to us in this space with a spotless 5-0 record and, while that is never the expectation, it is nice when it happens every once in a while.

Famously, the final week of the regular season is a free-for-all, with many teams having nothing to play for, all kinds of uncertainty in the mix, and most eyes on the upcoming playoffs. As such, this week’s column doesn’t feature a full five-game slate because, well, you never have to bet on games you don’t want to bet on. One more time, you don’t have to bet on these games. The weirdness is palpable this week.

Before we roll through Week 18 and a reduced slate, let’s take stock of the full-season progress.

• Week 17: 5-0
• 2022 Season: 46-37-2

Come get these winners.

TEASER: Jacksonville Jaguars (-0.5) over Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings (-1.5) over Chicago Bears

This is pretty square, which I don’t love, but the options are fairly limited on the teaser market in a week with so much uncertainty. Jacksonville should be able to get home against the Tannehill-less Titans in a game with real stakes. I don’t trust the Vikings at all, but the game is early in the day (1:00 pm ET on Sunday) and Minnesota has some incentive to win. Furthermore, the Bears are starting Nathan Peterman and Chicago needs to lose for draft purposes.

Indianapolis Colts (-2.5) over Houston Texans

It’s beyond disgusting to lay points with the Colts right now, but Indianapolis is the better team and the Texans have genuine tanking incentive. That’s where I’ll stop for now.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2.5) over Atlanta Falcons in the first half

All indications are that the Bucs are going to start Tom Brady and a lot of key guys. There is concern Tampa Bay might pull the rip cord at some point, which explains the first half angle here. Atlanta still isn’t very good, and the Falcons aren’t playing for anything either. I’ll take the candy in the first half.

SZA‘s latest album, SOS is maintaining its hype into the new year. Nearly a month after its release, the album has sat at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for three consecutive weeks. Today (January 5), SZA shared a new version of the album with some outtakes.

One of the songs was “PSA,” which she previously teased in a video clip she shared on social media.

“I don’t want nobody callin’ me anything but number one / Know I got problems, I don’t know how to take losses / Even when, even when they are lost causes / I waste my energy plenty, serve me to bury my envy, but / I’d rather chase it in Henny / I’d rather pay you in pennies,” she sings on the dreamy, harp-driven track.

Additionally, she shared the solo version of “Open Arms.” The version on the standard edition features Travis Scott, but on the solo version, she swaps out Scott’s verse with a third verse of her own.

“I don’t want to hear you trying / I just spent the whole night crying / I’d rather just f*ck on my ex / At least he still loves me for who I am,” she sings on the new verse.

As of now, the new songs are not yet on streaming platforms, and only available for purchase through SZA’s website. In addition to the new songs, fans will get the album’s original 23 tracks, as well as alternate cover art.

You can purchase the album with the new songs here.

Prior to Thursday’s game on TNT between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, Charles Barkley accidentally ushered one of the words barred from live television by the Federal Communications Commission: asshole. As soon as he said it, his fellow panelist, Ernie Johnson, interrupted him with an abrupt “hey, hey, hey!” that spanned roughly eight “heys” to remind Barkley that word is prohibited. That’s a dude who’s on top of things.

Immediately, the Hall of Fame forward repeatedly apologized, and pivoted to “jackass” instead, which I guess is somehow completely fine. I can’t say I quite understand the logic, but it’s not my job to make these rules, so oh well. The damage by Barkley was already done, though, at least as it pertained to igniting the laugh box of his buddy, Shaquille O’Neal, who could not contain himself from giggling and cackling. O’Neal got such a kick out of the moment that he said he’ll pay Barkley’s fine from the FCC, assuming he receives on.

Shortly after, the entire crew had some fun at the expense of Barkley’s gaffe, using words such as assets, ask, and asinine. All four of Johnson, O’Neal, Barkley and Kenny Smith shared a laugh, especially Barkley, who clearly enjoyed the jokes referencing his earlier mistake.

The best part might be Smith deep in thought, trying to build upon Johnson’s quip, while Barkley and O’Neal simply laugh. Smith is clearly trying to add onto the game, but needs a bit of time to think of something. “Ask” didn’t hold a candle to O’Neal’s “asinine” but it was nonetheless a worthwhile usage. Kudos to the team for this funny sequence.

Kali Uchis is kicking off the new year in a major way for her fans: by announcing she’ll be dropping not one but two albums in 2023. The musician recently teased back in April of 2022 that she had completed her third and fourth album.

While she originally polled her fans on which one they wanted first, it seems they’ll be getting both — making everyone happy.

“My third album & the next are both finished, one is an English album one is a Spanish album ¿what my kuchis want first ?” Uchis previously tweeted.

“dropping both 2023,” she added as a new update.

Needless to say, her fans were incredibly excited to hear about the upcoming double drop.

“i am so excited, tears are literally running down my eyes,” one user wrote.

“It doesn’t matter which one you drop 1st. I be singing along with you in either language,” another replied, responding to her initial question.

Uchis’ last album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios), was released back in 2020, so fans have been waiting almost three years for another full-length record from their fave. Since then, she has also put out some singles, including the most recent song, “No Hay Ley,” in September.

Continue scrolling for some additional reactions to Kali Uchis’ double album drop announcement.