Month: January 2023

After years of legal battles with their former record label Tommy Boy, iconic rap trio De La Soul’s catalog is finally coming to streaming services.

The Long Island natives took to Twitter to share that to mark the 34th anniversary of the release of De La Soul’s N0. 1 debut album, 3 Feet High And Rising, their catalog will be uploaded to streaming platforms on Friday, March 3.

The members (emcees Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo) are relieved that they were able to strike a deal with Reservoir Media after they acquired Tommy Boy. “We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith, and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen,” the group said.

Although their music will be available across platforms, Spotify was the first streamer to share the news with their subscribers, tweeting a promotional video announcing the catalog will be accessible on its platform.

https://twitter.com/Spotify/status/1610274066044424192/video/1

Reservoir Media, excited about the news, released a statement, “[we are] pleased to share that De La Soul’s first six albums, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ (1989), ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ (1991), ‘Buhloone Mindstate’ (1993), ‘Stakes Is High’ (1996), ‘Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump’ (2000), and ‘AOI: Bionix’ (2001), will be available to fans everywhere.”

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert’s 2022 closed out with apparent conflict, given some GOP infighting that included Marjorie Taylor Greene. That dust-up may not be over yet, but the Rifle Republican made plenty of other headlines throughout the year. She narrowly avoided a runoff against Democratic rival Adam Frisch, and several months ago, her beloved restaurant (Shooter’s Grill in Rifle, Colorado) shut down after losing its lease.

The restaurant was a both a source of Boebert pride (the Second Amendment fan encouraged her servers to open-carry on the job) but also controversy, given infamous reports about an alleged food poisoning outbreak involving pork sliders. Yet now there’s an odd turn of events, alright. Business Insider has reported that the location is being replaced by a Mexican joint:

[I]t appears that its location is going to be filled by a Mexican restaurant, Tapatios Family Mexican Restaurant, which now has emblazoned its “coming soon” sign on the premises’ front window.

Insider verified the location of the new restaurant by finding that “TAPATIOS2 LLC” was established in October at the same location as the former Shooters Grill.

Snopes followed up on this report with a “True” rating after an anonymous Twitter user (claiming to be from Colorado) posted a photo of the building with new signage. Boebert seemingly hasn’t responded to this news, but in the following days, she did tweet multiple times about “illegals” and “alien convicts,” who she claims are part of “an invasion supported by the government” that’s orchestrated by Biden.

Boebert also previously called for the impeachment of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over “rapists, drug dealers, and criminals” who “have crossed the southern border.”

All of this makes the Shooter’s Grill replacement a real universe-turner, one that Boebert’s grievance-airing ex-employees probably found pretty interesting, too. And hopefully, the new place won’t be won’t be selling any pork sliders.

(Via Business Insider)

Janelle Monáe has been hard at work lately. On top of pulling off an incredible performance in Glass Onion, it appears we may finally be getting a new album from the multi-hyphenate: In a video shared to Instagram, Monáe is seen jamming in the studio to what sounds like new music from the star themself.

“No, I’m not the same / I think I done changed / I used to walk into the room, head down / Now I float,” they sing in the snippet of the song, which appears to be titled “Float.” The post is captioned, “20twentyFREE #float”

Over the years, Monáe has delivered incredible performances in films like Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and most recently, Glass Onion. Their last album, the Grammy-nominated Dirty Computer, came out nearly five years ago, in April 2018. In a recent interview with NME, Monáe teased new music, jokingly saying they have a clone who makes music while they are on set.

“I’m not going to tell you if it’s me or not,” Monáe said. “They’re in the studio right now. I just feel so humbled and super, super blessed to be doing anything. Doing something like this, you don’t take it lightly.”

It looks like said clone may be delivering soon.

Take a listen to the snippet above.

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

With a platinum plaque, two gold records, and a Grammy Award to their names, you would think rap trio De La Soul’s catalog would be available for enjoyment across streaming platforms. But, unfortunately for the Library Of Congress inductees, due to several legal issues — including potential earning disputes with their record label, Tommy Boy — emcees Posdnuos (real name Kelvin Mercer), Trugoy (real name David Jude Jolicoeur), and Maseo (real name Vincent Lamont Mason Jr.) never signed off on the agreement.

Now that Reservoir Media has acquired the label, the pioneer posse’s music will be uploaded to streaming services this spring thanks to distribution from its subsidiary Chrysalis Records.

In a joint statement, the Long Island natives spoke on the news, saying, “We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith, and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”

Streaming giant Spotify took to Twitter to let their subscribers know De La Soul’s catalog will be accessible on its platform on Friday, March 3, to mark the 34th anniversary of the release of De La Soul’s N0. 1 debut album, 3 Feet High And Rising.

As for what music will be uploaded, a statement shared from Reservoir Media shared, “[we are] pleased to share that De La Soul’s first six albums, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ (1989), ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ (1991), ‘Buhloone Mindstate’ (1993), ‘Stakes Is High’ (1996), ‘Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump’ (2000), and ‘AOI: Bionix’ (2001), will be available to fans everywhere.”

Reservoir’s Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development, Faith Newman, who is also a fan of the group, shared how important this news is to the greater music community, saying, “As someone who has devoted my life to hip-hop for over 30 years, my relationship with the guys in De La Soul dates back to my early days in the industry, and I can attest to how influential their catalog is to the genre.”

Newman later added, “When Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy, the first call we made was to De La Soul. We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogs in hip-hop history.”

As a treat, De La Soul will release their hit single “The Magic Number” earlier (on January 13) to hold their fans over until their entire discography is made available.

Over the weekend (on January 1), CNN debuted Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, a documentary about the singer (that was the runner-up for the People’s Choice Award for Documentaries at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2021). At one point in the movie, she told the story of a time in the ’90s, when she invited Snoop Dogg and other rappers to her home so they could discuss their misogynist lyrics with them.

She explained how she called Snoop, Suge Knight, and others to her home at 7 a.m. sharp. Once the rappers arrived (as CNN notes), Warwick told them to call her a “b*tch,” like they did to other women in their songs, and said to them:

“‘You know, you guys are all going to grow up. You’re going have families, you’re going to have children, you’re going to have girls. And one day that little girl is going to look at you and say, ‘Daddy, did you really say that? Is that really you?’ What are you going to say?’ I think it got through to them.”

Snoop spoke about that moment, too, saying that he and the other rappers took Warwick’s invite so seriously that they were in her driveway at 6:52 that morning. He said, “We were kind of like scared and shook up. We’re powerful right now, but she’s been powerful forever. Thirty-some years in the game, in the big home with a lot of money and success. […] She was checking me at a time when I thought we couldn’t be checked. We were the most gangsta as you could be, but that day at Dionne Warwick’s house, I believe we got out-gangstered that day.”

As Warwick suspected, her words did get through to them, or at least Snoop. He said, “I made it a point to put records of joy — me uplifting everybody and nobody dying and everybody living.” He added, “Dionne, I hope I became the jewel that you saw when I was the little, dirty rock that was in your house. I hope I’m making you proud.”

Check out the trailer for Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over below.

We’ve been beating the “put the Muppets in the next Knives Out movie” drum for months (we borrowed the drum from Animal, naturally), but would Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery writer and director Rian Johnson actually consider it? “The idea is super fun and I don’t want to be a party pooper BUT…” he tweeted, along with a link to a Tudum article with the headline, “Could Benoit Blanc Meet the Muppets?” Short answer: probably not.

Johnson thinks a Knives Out / Muppets crossover is “pretty brilliant, and I ended up really giving [it] some serious thought. As much as I take the murder mystery genre seriously, I take the genre of a Muppet movie seriously.” But “those two things have very different rules. You can either have a Benoit Blanc mystery that has Muppets in it, but they’ll feel out of place. Or you can have a Muppet movie that Benoit Blanc is in, but it’ll feel like a Muppet movie.” I understand Johnson’s hesitation. Counterpoint: Benoit Blanc has a goofy accent; the Swedish Chef has a goofy accent. It’s meant to be.

In other words, Muppet mystery fans, for the foreseeable future, Blanc will be investigating humans rather than frogs, Fozzie Bear and whatever the hell Gonzo is. “I wouldn’t want to compromise either of them,” Johnson says. “And I feel like in order to make it well and make it work, you’d have to make a choice and compromise one or the other. If I ever make a Muppet movie, I just want to make a great Muppet movie.”

So, it sounds like a movie is off the table. But what about a holiday special?

The only thing better than a Muppets Christmas movie is a Muppets Christmas movie with Benoit Blanc.

(Via Tudum)

It’s now been about a year and a half since Billie Eilish released her second and most recent album, 2021’s Happier Than Ever. On occasion since then, there has been word of Eilish and brother/collaborator Finneas working on new music, like when Eilish shared a studio photo last summer. Now, it appears that’s how they’re starting 2023.

Late last night (technically early this morning, January 3), an Eilish fan hopped on Twitter and asked Finneas, “what are your favourite lyrics you and billie wrote together?” The tweet got a response, as Finneas replied, “We wrote some great ones today.”

This past July, Finneas spoke reverently about her brother’s songwriting abilities, saying, “Finneas can work anytime. The dude doesn’t get a break, like, within himself. He doesn’t need it. For me, I kind of go through phases of feeling really creative and actually getting stuff done, and then go through phases of absolutely nothing at all, musically. The creativity works in other ways, but musically, Finneas is just… the guy can write so fast and so well and so often and constant. It’s his way of expressing himself and it’s really kind of his only way, and so I think that’s a big part of it. For me, I have a lot of ways of expressing myself that I find myself good at, and maybe better at, and feel really confident at. And for Finneas, songwriting is just, like, his tool.”

In April last year, Future dropped his ninth studio album, I Never Liked You, and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. But he didn’t stop there — he was the only rapper to remain on the Hot 100 chart throughout the entire year. He’s not done dominating. He’s back today with a music video for the track “Back To The Basics” off of the album directed by Skeeboo.

Taking place on a yacht, in the video, viewers watch as Future flexes his luxurious lifestyle, all while he raps on the open seas with women in bikinis. Then, of course, there’s lots of dancing, shots, and partying — as there should be after all his successes.

This video is the latest in a string of new videos he’s been putting out. It follows the release of the Travis Scott-directed video for “712PM” as well as the videos for “From Now On” with Lil Baby, “Massaging Me,” “I’m Dat N****,” and more.

Future is about to head out on the One Big Party tour, a quick run beginning on January 7 and ending on January 27. Openers include EST Gee, Babyface Ray, Doe Boy, Lil Jarmy, Rob49, Double 00, and Ocean x Kungfu for all of the shows, as well as Kodak Black, Trippie Redd, and Polo G at select dates.

Watch the “Back To The Basics” video above.

When Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during Bills-Bengals there was a sense of helplessness from everyone in attendance and watching on Monday Night Football.

The 24-year-old was transported to the local hospital after nearly 30 minutes on the field, receiving CPR as paramedics and medical personnel attended to him. The game was ultimately postponed, which was the right call as there could be no reasonable expectation to ask players on either team to try and play football any further after seeing a friend, teammate, and colleague suffer a life-threatening medical emergency.

As everyone waited on an update on Hamlin, hoping to learn that he had improved after the only initial, official update stated he was in critical condition at the hospital, many fans found a way to try and do something positive and found Hamlin’s GoFundMe for a toy drive he hosted prior to Christmas. Within minutes, hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into the GoFundMe, with it sitting at just over $737,000 as of writing at 10:48 p.m. ET.

It’s an incredibly kind gesture from fans seeking out any way to offer positivity and support for Hamlin. Hopefully the young man can make a full recovery and those donations can be put to great use in the future for more toy drives and other ways to help the community that he clearly cares about so deeply.

With the start of a new year comes new opportunities. Although some entertainers may not want to change things up, rapper Meek Mill has embraced the clean slate granted to him. Since he departed from Roc Nation Management so that he could “take [a] risk and grow,” the “Going Bad” rapper has done just that.

On the personal side, the Philadelphia native reunited with former mentor Rick Ross for a one-night-only concert despite rumors of ongoing tension. On the business side, the Meek delivered his long-awaited mixtape, Flamerz 5, in November, which featured a dope freestyle over the instrumental of DJ Khaled’s Grammy-nominated song “God Did.”

In a tweet, Meek revealed the wave of new music wouldn’t stop there, writing, “this year, an album every quarter!” Yes, you read that correctly. The Dream Chasers boss promises fans four new albums this year. To be exact, that equals one project every three months.

It is unclear if the project will feature all new original music or just freestyle, but the rapper guarantees that whatever is released will be average. “It’s not even albums no more. We really making full docuseries music,” wrote Meek.

The first album to be released will be titled Dream Catching, based on what the rapper shared on his Instagram.

As for what sparked the big push for this wave of new music, the rapper wrote, “I feel like I had an awakening or something! I feel clear and like myself to the max.”

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