Month: February 2023

Sunday brought some sad news form the entertainment industry: Richard Belzer, comic and longtime portrayer of TV detective John Munch, had passed away following health issues. He was 78. He lived a long and varied life. What’s more he went out with top shelf final words, telling a friend, “F*ck you, motherf*cker.” His passing caused an avalanche of mourning, with colleagues from the worlds of TV and comedy posting tributes to the beloved performer.

“Goodbye my dear, dear friend,” wrote Mariska Hargitay, one of many from Belzer’s Law & Order family. “I feel blessed to have known you and adored you and worked with you, side by side, for so many years.”

Chris Meloni posted twice, sharing photos of the both of them and another featuring Hargitay. “Good bye mon ami. I love you,” he wrote in one.

Ice-T, who played his partner on Special Victims Unit, wrote, “After one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I wake up to the news I lost my friend today. Belz is gone.. Damn it!” He added, “I’ll miss you Homie.”

“Richard Belzer was always so kind to me,” wrote Vincent D’Onofrio, who starred on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. “We met at comedy club he was performing in yrs before L&O. I was young with only one film into my career. He always remembered me. I had the pleasure of hang’n with him a couple of times. Sweet sweet man & funny as hell. He will be missed.”

SVU showrunner Warren Leight also weighed in, writing, “Richard Belzer was the first actor to welcome me when I started at SVU. Open, warm, acerbic, whip smart, surprisingly kind. I loved writing for Munch, and I loved being with Belz. We sensed this would be his parting scene. Godspeed Belz…”

Others within the entertainment industry, many of them his pals, honored the man as well.

Belzer’s comedy career started in the ‘70s. He added serious (but still funny) work to his CV starting with Homicide: Life on the Street, which began his long stretch playing John Munch. Indeed, only a few years ago did Hargitay — who’s played SVU’s Olivia Benson since 1999 — eclipse Belzer’s record of having the longest-running prime time live-action character in television history. He will be missed.

Days before the release of his upcoming album, Love Sick, Don Toliver has dropped a visualizer for a track titled “Leave The Club,” which features Lil Durk and GloRilla. The song is set to appear in Toliver’s upcoming project. The audiovisual is going for a Boogie Nights feel, drawing inspiration from the 70s and Disco. Toliver didn’t leave much to the imagination with his latest track. The song seems to be a mating call for a special lady that caught his eye.

“I wanna leave the club right now (Yeah)/Tell you n****s in the club to pipe down,” he raps. “She want me flip her upside down (Yeah)/
She a freak when you not around.”

While the “After Party” rapper has yet to release an album tracklist, the album is expected to be around 16 songs, according to Apple Music.
Along with Lil Durk and GloRilla, Kali Uchis is expected to appear on Toliver’s forthcoming project.

The rapper performed a song from the new album “Do It Right” at Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty fashion show last December. Following the release of a few singles and collaborations, he also dropped a teaser trailer for the upcoming project.

In addition to the highly-anticipated album. Toliver will also be a short film on Prime Video, set to the music of the album.

Love Sick is out on 2/24 via Atlantic Records. You can pre-save it here.

Check out Don Toliver’s song “Leave The Club” above.

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

Nicki Minaj may rep hard for Southside Jamaica Queens, New York, but the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper’s first home was the Caribbean country of Trinidad And Tobago. The record-holding recording artist shares her home country pride every chance she gets in her international music collaborations, most recently being on the 2022 FIFA World Cup anthem “Tukoh Taka” featuring Maluma and Myriam Fares.

However, her pride for her native island hasn’t stopped there, as the musician was spotted arriving at the country’s international airport today.

It would make perfect sense that Minaj would be visiting the country considering yesterday (February 19), the songwriter took to Instagram to share that she had collaborated with Trinidadian soca singer Machel Montano and musician Destra Garcia for a new song titled “Shake The Place,” just in time for the country’s annual Carvinal celebrations.

“If you f*ck with island girls, rep your flag for me in the comments. Trinidad Carnival is about to #ShakeThePlace shake up di whole place. It’s an honor @machelmontano @destragarcia. We’ll talk soon, barbz. Promise. Love you,” wrote Minaj.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj)

Well, this isn’t the first time the superstar has visited the country to celebrate Carnival; it still does hold a special significance as this would be the first time she’s collaborated with Trinidadian musicians. It is unclear if she will perform as part of the country’s special celebrations, but that would be quite a treat for her fellow Trinidadians.

Jordan Clarkson has evolved plenty over the course of his career, going from Los Angeles to Cleveland and now Utah, where he is one of the last remaining holdovers from the Jazz teams that were led by Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Clarkson has always been a free spirit on the court, but as he’s become a veteran, he’s learned how to pick his spots and bring a steadying presence to a young Jazz team in need of that guidance.

The result has been his most productive season as a pro, averaging 21.0 points and 4.2 assists per game, both career-highs, as Utah has been a surprising play-in contender at 29-31, a half-game back of Oklahoma City for 10th in the West.

Over All-Star weekend, Clarkson took part in a live taping of ‘Scoring Credit’, a partnership between Chase Freedom, THINK50, and the NBPA. Clarkson was joined by Walker Kessler and Baron Davis to talk about the nuances of financial literacy, budgeting, financial planning, and his own experiences and financial education. Dime spoke with Clarkson after the panel discussion to chat about who he looked to for financial advice off-court, as well as growing into himself on-court and the advice and relationship he forged with Mike Conley.

The process of financial literacy, whether that’s in home ownership or investing, budgeting or working to save, can be overwhelming. What’s a good entry point for people who want to get started but aren’t sure how?

A good entry point I think is just asking questions. Trying to figure it out. It’s something where picking up a book, figuring it out on your own sometimes [helps], but you kind of have to experience it to give someone that education as well. You have children, your family, whatever, somebody could come and ask you the same question, so that’s why I say generational wealth and the education comes from people that are around you.

Are there people that you look to, and talk to, when you were starting to build this wealth and financial awareness for yourself?

A lot of it was my dad. He did a lot of work. He started, basically from nothing as well. He was in the military, served in the armed forces, stopped that when I was born. Created a business, started to learn about LLCs and the whole thing, and that was just washing cars. He started his own business and that was a successful way to support us. He figured out things, went back to school, starts learning more, that education gets passed down to me. Then he finds somebody else who has further education than that, and we figure it out from there. But like I said, that’s been a point of today in terms of spreading that education of wealth and knowledge.

Would you say your dad’s more regimented approach, if it was that, has that rubbed off on you in certain ways? Whether with this, or in your game?

Well my game is pretty free, but when it comes to off the court living and spending, he keeps me to a real strict and healthy diet in terms of that [laughs].

They do that, right?

Right! Always. He’s always my ear, ‘What is this American Express bill?’ You know what I mean? It’s part of it though. It’s all love. We want to keep continuing to spread our education.

I recently read that you said you feel you’re finally evolving into who you’re supposed to be. Can you explain that?

It’s kind of weird. Not weird, but it’s to a point where I’ve grown. I went through trials, tribulations, I’m 30, I’m getting older and continuing to learn from my experiences and the mistakes that I’ve made. And now I’m to a point where I’m comfortable in my skin. If I would’ve told myself earlier, I would have told myself keep doing what you’re doing. Learn from him and keep pushing. Because I know I’m not going to make the same mistakes, and I know my daughter isn’t going to make the same mistakes I made because I’m going to educate her on everything.

You’re right, it’s a hard thing to explain and reconcile. Because it is just a feeling of comfort and ease with yourself, when you hit your stride. Do you find that now, you’ve lost some of the guys you started to play with on this Jazz team? Mike Conley’s gone, you had a good relationship. Do you now take it upon yourself to step into that leadership role?

Yeah, I do. Mike was like, I’ve been a fan of Mike since high school. Watching him growing up playing.

He’s great.

Yeah. Ohio State. Just watching him, learning from him. Talking to him all the time, sitting next to him on the plane. I still call him. I called him on the way over here. Just trying to take his leadership skills. I think he has a good understanding on what’s going on in life. He’s comfortable in his skin and it’s made his career, made his family, and made who he is so impactful.

He’s a very calming presence.

Always. I always call him Yoda. I’m the wild one, I’m just out there, and he’s kinda like, pulling the reins like, ‘Bro listen.’ But I’m finally coming to that point where I think I’m finally coming to understand what he’s been saying. Maybe because he’s not here, and I can’t speak to him every day in terms of getting on a plane and talking to him at practice every morning.

What did he say to you on the way over here, if you don’t mind me asking?

‘What you doing tonight?’ [laughs] ‘Want to come over, have a glass of wine and chill?’

That’s very good. I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you a bit about your style. What kind of stuff do you think about when you’re figuring out what to wear for specific games?

Umm, cartoon characters.

Is it also a mood thing, a comfort thing?

Yeah. Mood, comfort, and then like, anime characters and cartoons.

Not even James Cameron, the maker of the Avatar movies, was prepared for how well its belated sequel would do. But he was wrong and since its release in mid-December, The Way of Water has cleaned up. For the last few weeks it’s already been in the top five of all-time grossers. And now, finally, it’s passed another Cameron money-gobbler.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Avatar 2 has now grossed $2.243.3 billion worldwide, which gives it the edge over Titanic, whose total cume, at $2.242.8 billion, is not far behind. It’s likely the second trip to Pandora would have passed the beloved historical romance had it not been reissued in theaters last weekend, when its all-time gross stood at “only” $2.194 billion.

And so Avatar 2 is now the third highest-grossing movie ever made, behind only Avengers: Endgame ($2.797 billion) and the first Avatar ($2.992 billion). Perhaps needless to say, none of this is adjusted for inflation, and it’ll have a tough time catching up to Gone with the Wind’s estimated $4.192 billion. (Or, for that matter, the adjusted gross of Avatar 1: $3.824 billion.) Still, don’t ever estimate the power of a James Cameron picture.

In other box office news, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania overcame meh reviews to harness the best opening weekend for that wing of the MCU, Hoovering up $118 million domestically and $239 million elsewhere. Even better, star Paul Rudd recently shared his secret to looking like you’re in your mid-30s for life.

(Via THR)

When NBA Youngboy appeared on a track off Quavo and Takeoff’s (Unc & Phew) Only Built for Infinity Links album, fans were more than excited to see what visual the trio would come up with. Especially after his last collaboration with the Migos, “I Need It,” which was released in 2020. Unfortunately, the visual never happened.

The collaborative track, titled “To The Bone,” only received a visualizer rather than an official music video with an appearance from all three artists. Youngboy recently opened up to Rap Radar host Elliot Willson about why the video never came together, noting that a minor setback caused plans to change last minute.

“Quavo sent me the song,” he said. “They came out here to do the video, but I think something happened. And it had me in a f*cked up mood. So, I had canceled the video. I regret it, though. It’s okay, though.”

Takeoff, one-half of the group, Unc & Phew, was shot and killed in November last year while attending a private event in Houston. The 28-year-old rapper was joined by Quavo and a few other associates at a bowling alley, but according to reports, it was a dice game that led to the confrontation. So far, one person has been arrested concerning the rapper’s death, Patrick Clark, who has since been released on a $1 million bail.

Quavo recently paid tribute to his former groupmate and nephew during his performance at the 2023 Grammys.

Check out NBA Youngboy’s complete interview above.

Travis Scott’s highly-anticipated fourth album, Utopia, will be coming soon, according to the Houston hitmaker. However, not before his Cactus Jack artists, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, SoFaygo, and DJ Chase B, drop their upcoming projects.

In a clip that has surfaced online, the rapper and producer can be seen on stage sharing the announcement with a crowd of fans, who were more than excited to hear the news.

Travis Scott hasn’t said much about his upcoming project but did note that it would be out sometime this year. The rapper has been slowly creeping back into the public’s eye since the tragedy at Astroworld, his annual music festival, in 2021. Recently, Scott made appearances on both Metro Boomin’s Heros & Villians as well as SZA’s SOS album that was released last year.

Aside from new music, the rapper is expected to perform at Rolling Loud and the Wireless Festival alongside acts like Cardi B, Playboi Carti, and more.

Don Toliver will be the first Cactus Jack artist expected to drop this year. The “After Party” rapper’s third album Love Sick will be released on Friday (February 24). In the meantime, the rest of the Jackboys are hard at work on their upcoming projects.

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

Drill rapper Ice Spice’s growing popularity isn’t just causing a frenzy during her pop-up concerts at New York Fashion Week or even for a flash mob performance to promote her EP Like…? in Time Square. The Bronx native’s latest collaboration with British singer PinkPantheress on the song “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” is not only all the buzz on TikTok but has now secured the No. 1 position on the Apple Music charts.

The irresistible dance track has dethroned Morgan Wallen’s song “Last Night” to lock in the top position on Apple Music’s US charts, according to Pop Base.

Despite both PinkPantheress and Ice Spice being fairly new acts within their respective genres, that hasn’t stopped them from garnering a huge fan following across social media, earning the respect of some of music’s biggest names, or finding their music on the charts. In fact, last month, Ice Spice landed her first placement on the Billboard charts with her single, “Gangsta Boo,” featuring Lil Tjay.

“Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” not only occupies the top spot of Apple Music’s charts but, according to Pop Base, it has also retained the No. 1 spot on Spotify’s US charts for a second consecutive day bringing in a total of 2.33 million streams.

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

Richard Belzer, the edgy comic who pivoted into a record-breaking long run as detective John Munch, a character he played across multiple series, has passed away at his home in southwest France. He was 78.

Belzer’s passing was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, who spoke to his friend Bill Scheft. Belzer allegedly went out with bristling sarcasm. “He had lots of health issues, and his last words were, ‘F*ck you, mother*cker,’” Scheft told THR.

Belzer began in comedy, making his film debut in 1974’s cult film The Groove Tube, which also featured a pre-SNL Chevy Chase. Belzer joined Chase on the longtime late night sketch show, sort of: He was the show’s warm-up comedian and made a few appearances in the early years. He soon became a stand-up staple, regularly appearing on late night television.

For 22 seasons (plus a brief reappearance in 2016), Belzer played the role that would come to define him: the cynical but do-gooding investigator John Munch, who was born on Homicide: Life on the Streets. When that show ended, Munch ventured from Baltimore to New York City. There Munch became part of the Law & Order-verse, joining the spinoff Special Victims Unit. Belzer also played the character in other shows, ranging from The Wire to The X-Files to Arrested Development to American Dad.

For years Munch was the longest running consecutive primetime live-action character in television history (since eclipsed by his former SVU colleague Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson).

Belzer retired in 2016. His last appearance was in the 2017 Gilbert Gottfried documentary Gilbert. Pour one out for a real one.

(Via THR)

Whether it be music or business, 50 Cent has never been one to hold back.

Recently the Queens-bred mogul stopped by MSNBC to chat about his career and the new deal with FOX, the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and more. During the conversation, the host talked with 50 Cent about his thoughts on Billboard’s list of the “Best Rappers of All Time,” where he placed 17th. While flattered at the nod, the rapper noted how flawed countdown lists can be and that “music marks time,” speaking to the generational rift between the OG rappers and younger ones.

50 Cent said for today’s music consumer, Future, is the more prominent artist right now compared to an older rapper like Jay-Z.

“[He’s] way bigger,” 50 said, “Like, there’s consistent music from him that didn’t chart that, huge records that people love and appreciate. Later, it may not have the same things to hold onto that you have at points.”

But not everyone seems to agree with the Power creator. Fat Joe agrees with the list and believes that Jay-Z— who earned the No.1 spot— is more relevant now than ever. While on Instagram live last week, Joe noted that many emcees who were the “gods at the time” with “flows like nobody else” fell off, whereas Jay-Z has remained consistent.