Month: May 2023

Snoop Dogg isn’t high on streaming services, and he hasn’t been for a while. After acquiring Death Row Records in February 2022, Snoop removed seminal albums such as his Doggystyle debut and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic from platforms.

“First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people because those platforms don’t pay,” Snoop explained on Drink Champs that April. “And those platforms get millions of millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels.”

Snoop resurfaced his opinion on Wednesday night, May 3, in the context of the Writers Guild Of America strike that began earlier this week. He was participating in a panel at Milken Institutes’ Global Conference with Variety executive music editor Shirley Halperin and Larry Jackson, his Gamma business partner.

Per Variety, Snoop called streaming models at the center of the WGA’s dispute “f*cked up.”

“[Artists] need to figure it out the same way the writers are figuring it out. The writers are striking because [of] streaming; they can’t get paid. Because when it’s on the platform, it’s not like in the box office,” Snoop said.

He added, “I don’t understand how the f*ck you get paid off of that sh*t. Somebody explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars? … That’s the main gripe with a lot of us artists is that we do major numbers, … but it don’t add up to the money. Like, where the f*ck is the money?”

For what it’s worth, Death Row Records’ catalog returned to streaming services this March.

Jack Harlow stripped back down to the basics for his album Jackman, which he released without much notice last Friday, April 28 — 10 tracks, no features, and simplistic cover art featuring a shirtless Harlow standing in an empty background and by a shoddy garage.

According to The Courier-Journal, “The now-famous garage featured on Jack Harlow’s new album has brought hundreds of sightseers to an alley in Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood. But now it’s drawn graffiti, too. The word ‘Crips’ was written in blue paint on the garage featured on the cover of the Jackman album.”

Meanwhile, Harlow is continuing to leave a meaningful mark on his hometown. On Wednesday, May 3, he announced the launch of The Jack Harlow Foundation. Initial contributions were made to Adelante Hispanic Achievers, Centro Latino, Russell: A Place Of Promise, and Sponsor4Success in Kentucky.

“The launch of my foundation is represented by gifts to four organizations that I believe are doing the work of making Louisville a better place; helping under-resourced families remove obstacles to higher education, supporting a new start in a neighborhood that has been lacking investment, giving hands-on assistance to the poorest of the poor, and making safe housing affordable for families,” Harlow said in a statement.

The multiplatinum rapper continued, “With all I have done and will do in my career, my home is where my heart is, my refuge, and the place that shaped me. Giving back to Louisville represents the dream I have of making a difference. My vision is to make Louisville a better place. Know that this is just the start of my philanthropic legacy and I look forward to transforming our community and, as a result, the success and happiness of its citizens.”

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

TV networks often use the playoffs to debut new things, whether it’s a different graphic package, a new broadcast feature, or a different camera angle. On Wednesday, TNT made waves with a drone camera flying around TD Garden during Game 2 of Sixers-Celtics, but unfortunately it did not get the intended rave reviews.

The general reaction online was “please stop with the drone camera,” albeit there were a select few who said they thought it was cool. The objections to the drone were for a few reasons. For one, it was mildly distracting seeing the drone flying around in the regular camera shots of the game. For another, while it was a slightly different angle, it wasn’t providing groundbreaking images from above the play or right behind the action over the court — one would assume because the league wouldn’t sign off on having it flying over actual play for understandable reasons. And finally, the camera quality of the drone is simply not as good as the incredibly crisp, clear HDTV cameras we are accustomed to.

It’s not a bad addition, in that aside from seeing it buzz around in the wide shot it’s not a distracting change from what we’re used to seeing, but it also just doesn’t seem worth it. We’ve seen the sideline tracking camera before — ABC used to have it in the Finals and I believe CBS still uses it in Final Four coverage — and this is basically just a higher angle version of it that then sets up more in the middle of the halfcourt, but with a little worse quality. If there is value to it, it’s more in providing another angle for replays rather than necessarily being part of the camera cuts for live play, but even so it feels like a superfluous addition for the sake of doing something new — again, assuming they can’t start flying it over the actual court during play.

Missy Elliott “cried all morning” in gratitude after it was revealed she will be the first-ever female rapper to inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame when this year’s class was announced on Wednesday morning, May 3. Missy will be inducted alongside Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Kate Bush, Rage Against The Machine, George Michael, and The Spinners during a ceremony this November.

The groundbreaking artist will properly begin her months-long celebration at the Lovers And Friends Festival on Saturday, May 6, in Las Vegas. Elliott was tapped as a headliner, as were 5o Cent and Usher.

The official set times have been released.

Elliott is scheduled to take the Lovers Stage at 10:30 p.m. local time. Before welcoming her, that stage will feature Christina Aguilera at 9 p.m., 50 Cent at 7:20 p.m., Miguel at 5:30 p.m., Pitbull at 4:10 p.m., Lil Kim at 3 p.m., Omarion at 1:50 p.m., and Next at 12:40 p.m.

Mariah Carey will cap off the night on the Friends Stage at 9:40 p.m. immediately following Usher’s 7:55 p.m. set. That stage will also host Chris Brown at 6:15 p.m., Nelly at 4:50 p.m., Jhené Aiko at 3:35 p.m., Shaggy at 2:25 p.m., Da Brat at 1:15 p.m., and Lumidee at 12:15 p.m.

The Crunk Stage and Bling Stage will be the busiest, including the likes of PartyNextDoor, Summer Walker, Bryson Tiller, Sean Paul, T.I., Ginuwine, Boyz II Men, Eve, Bow Wow, and more.

See the full schedule below.

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

Apocalypse Now is a strong contender for the greatest war movie ever made, but its shoot was also one of cinema’s most chaotic. There’s an entire documentary about the mess that transpired when Francis Ford Coppola tried to make a movie about the Vietnam War. (Over four decades later, he even had to shoot down rumors that his latest, Megalopolis, was similarly cursed.) But there’s one harrowing story that’s a lot less known.

As caught by Variety, Emilio Estevez was recently on The Jennifer Hudson Show with his dad, Martin Sheen, that film’s star. One of his father’s co-stars was a 14-year-old Laurence Fishburne, who famously lied about his age to play one of the main soldiers. Emilio was also 14 at the time, and he’d joined his father on set in the Philippines. The two naturally began hanging out, and one day their misadventures nearly got the better of one of them.

“[Fishburne] says, ‘Hey there’s this little boat, let’s go out on it.’ I said, ‘Sure.’ We were both 14 at the time,” Estevez recalled. “So we were out on this boat together, and we started getting too close to the shore and I said, ‘Well, let me jump out, I’ll push us offshore. I jumped out, and it was like quicksand mud.

“I was sinking, and I just saw Fishburne just looking at me going, ‘Grab my hand!’ and he pulled me back onto the boat,” Estevez said. “We were bonded ever since.”

Sheen then chimed in, saying, “I called Mr. Fishburne to thank him for saving my son’s life.”

Estevez wasn’t the only one who nearly died on the set of Apocalypse Now. His dad almost did, too, suffering a heart attack while making a film that took 10 times longer than expected to film, cost its maker millions of his own money, among other horrors. Hell, even Fishburne nearly died after co-star Dennis Hopper got him hooked on heroin. Who knows? Perhaps there are other Apocalypse Now horror stories not yet made public.

(Via Variety)

Why, it feels like it was only yesterday when dating apps were the shiny new trend in the singles world. However, with life becoming increasingly more virtual, many people are looking to become less dominated by screens. As a result, folks are once again hoping to find love from an authentic connection IRL. Swiping just isn’t as romantic (or cutting edge) as it used to be.

That’s where the Pear ring comes in. Self dubbed as the “world’s biggest social experiment,” this $25 brightly colored blue ring offers something classic, with a twist. Basically, folks wear it out to signal they’re single and ready to mingle. Almost like the opposite of an engagement ring, really.

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By wearing their Pear ring anywhere and everywhere—the gym, the coffee shop, at an event, etc—single people would theoretically open up more of those kismet interactions, without having to be constantly online.

See on Instagram

According to the Pear ring website, the first release has already sold out, with the second release ending soon. And while there’s no hard data sharing just how many people have purchased, the company ambitiously aims to have “millions” donning one.

Hard to say if the trend will take hold, but folks are certainly talking about it. Television personality Alison Hammond was seen on “This Morning” wearing one, or at least something similar to the Pear ring with the same symbolism. According to The Mirror, she said, “More people are wanting to meet people out and about and having a green ring might be a good idea so that people know you’re single.”

“As you can see, I’ve got my single ring on,” she said.

Meanwhile on TikTok, reviews seem mixed, with some feeling like this public display is out of their comfort zone. Others felt like it could help them avoid the awkwardness of going up to a person they like and finding out they’re already committed. Or for those who are just introverted overall, this would be a great way to passively initiate.

@amandabril Would you wear a ring to identify if you’re single??? #pearring #datingapps #dating #news #oddnews ♬ original sound – Amanda Brilhante

This comment seems to really cover the gamut: “It does feel Black Mirror-ish, but also imagine being in Trader Joe’s and knowing who’s single… A dream.”

One thing seems to be certain—people miss genuine connection and want a romantic landscape that protects their mental health. We see this in multiple aspects of dating, from a recent uptick in “sober dates,” where singles share a fitness class instead of meeting at a bar, to mixing dating with travel adventures, to dating outside of a normal “type” to simply setting stronger boundaries.

Sure, online dating might not be a thing of the past just yet. But it is cool to see that social experiments like the Pear ring exist, so that, if nothing else, we can be reminded that there is always a way to prioritize humanity no matter how high-tech our modern world becomes.

Dillon Brooks has not had a great last couple of weeks, as his defiant insistence to “poke bears” backfired in the Grizzlies first round series, as he became the focal point of their overall struggles in a six-game loss to the Lakers. Brooks was ejected for a low blow on LeBron James shortly after calling him old, saw James score the dagger on him in Game 4, and had his shooting shortcomings put on display.

The antics and shooting struggles have come to overshadow the positive work Brooks does on the defensive end, and has led to questions about his immediate future as he enters free agency. That future will, apparently, not be in Memphis, as a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic on Tuesday stated the Grizzlies had told Brooks in exit interviews he wouldn’t be brought back “under any circumstances.” The wording of the report was particularly blunt and led to an awful lot of conversation online wondering where, exactly, this report was coming from, as it seemed a bit harsh to have come from a team leak.

JJ Redick, in particular, took aim at the effort to scapegoat Brooks by…someone on Wednesday’s First Take, which caught the attention of Brooks’ agent, Mike George, who ripped Charania for the report.

The current state of news-breaking and reporting in sports requires fans to constantly wonder where information is coming from, as there is a give and take approach to the passage of information with those talking usually doing so in an effort to push a certain angle. An agent like George is certainly well aware of how that game is played, which is why it’s notable that he’d call Charania out publicly like this. George’s client list is plenty long, highlighted by Jamal Murray, so for him to voice this level of frustration at Charania’s reporting is quite eye-opening. Even with some wild reporting that gets out there, we rarely see an agent take aim at one of the top news-breakers like this, but it’s clear George has had enough of the chatter about his client.

March was so relatively tame for Taylor Swift, at least in hindsight. She launched her largely unprecedented and insanely impressive The Eras Tour on March 17. Everyone was under the impression she was still dating Joe Alwyn, as she had been for the better part of the last six years, and maybe she was at that point. Among the first songs of her three-plus hour set is “Cruel Summer,” in which she sings, “Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes.” And Swift has probably been in a perpetual state of eye-rolling since reports first broke of her and Alwyn’s split on April 8.

According to People, on April 10, Alwyn and Swift had broken up “a few weeks” before Entertainment Tonight‘s initial report because of “differences in their personalities” and Alwyn struggling “with Taylor’s level of fame and attention from the public.”

So naturally the public is paying even more attention to Swift and speculating over who she might be involved with now. One person perfectly resurfaced an alleged 2014 tweet from Swift reading, “As my 25th birthday present from the media, I’d like for you to stop accusing all my friends of dating me.”

Fast forward to Wednesday, May 3, and The Sun is reporting that Swift is dating The 1975’s Matty Healy. They claim “the pair are ready to go public with their romance in Nashville, Tennessee” this weekend, as Swift is prepared to perform three The Eras Tour shows there.

The British tabloid cites an unnamed source “close to Taylor” as saying, “She and Matty are madly in love. It’s super early days, but it feels right. They first dated, very briefly, almost ten years ago, but timings just didn’t work out.”

They continued, “Taylor and Joe actually split up back in February, so there was absolutely no crossover. Both Matty and Taylor have been touring the past few weeks, so it’s been a lot of FaceTiming and texting, but she cannot wait to see him again.”

Wait! There’s more:

“But as two international megastars, they understand the pressures of one another’s jobs better than anyone and are incredibly supportive of their respective careers. They are both massively proud and excited about this relationship and, unlike Taylor’s last one — which was very much kept out of the spotlight, deliberately — she wants to ‘own’ this romance, and not hide it away.

Taylor just wants to live her life, and be happy. She’s told pals Matty is flying to Nashville over the weekend to support her on the next leg of her tour.”

The validity of these rumors is anyone’s guess — she has also been at the center of unverified rumors linking her to Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso (as noted by Page Six and Rolling Stone) — but we saw a glimpse of Healy’s admiration for Swift in January when she was a surprise performer at The 1975’s O2 Arena tour stop in London.

Healy thought so highly of Swift that he bailed on his then-nightly tour ritual of making out with fans in the crowd:

Minds were blown when Healy revealed mid-concert in Australia last month that he really did inspire the rat in Flushed Away, but this? This is too much.

Trump is so prodigiously and recklessly litigious that you may have forgotten about one of his wackier ones: In 2021, he sued The New York Times and the niece who hates him, Mary Trump, over their Pulitzer Prize-winning report exposing his taxes. At the time, Mary simply laughed it off, calling her uncle a “f*cking loser.” Well, jump a year-and-a-half and a judge has (mostly) proven her right.

As per The Daily Beast, a New York judge has not only tossed the lawsuit, but also ordered Trump to pay all attorney legal fees, legal expenses, and associated costs. In a ruling filed Wednesday, Justice Robert R. Reed ruled that despite Trump claiming that the Times and Mary — who had provided the paper with her uncle’s records — were perfectly within their first amendment right to collaborate on the story.

“The New York Times is pleased with the judge’s decision today,” a paper spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Beast. “It is an important precedent reaffirming that the press is protected when it engages in routine newsgathering to obtain information of vital importance to the public.”

Though Reed cleared the Times of wrongdoing, the claims against Mary have yet to be ruled upon. Donald had claimed that by smuggling the records out of her attorney’s office and handing them to reporters, Mary had violated confidentiality agreement she’d signed in 2001.

Upon learning of her uncle’s lawsuit, Mary Trump did not hold back. “I think he is a f*cking loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can,” she said. “It’s desperation. The walls are closing in and he is throwing anything against the wall that will stick. As is always the case with Donald, he’ll try and change the subject.”

Meanwhile, Mary Trump is busy suing her uncle back on another matter.

(Via The Daily Beast)

We might want to spy on Taylor Swift’s friend’s social media activity. Fans have noticed in recent weeks that some of Swift’s closest confidants unfollowed Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of approximately six years until news of their alleged breakup was first reported by Entertainment Tonight on April 8.

People followed up with a report the following week, which alleged that Alywn and Swift “weren’t the right fit for one another” and that Alywn “struggled with Taylor’s level of fame and attention from the public.”

Well, since then, speculation has blossomed that Swift is romantically linked to men with similar levels of fame (though, to be fair, Swift’s fame is in another stratosphere from most human beings). There have been dating rumors surrounding her and Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso, as reported by the likes of Page Six. Now The Sun is claiming Swift is dating The 1975’s Matty Healy.

According to the UK tabloid, “The pair are ready to go public with their romance in Nashville, Tennessee,” where Swift’s The Eras Tour is preparing to stop this Friday, May 5, Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7.

“A source close to Taylor said: ‘She and Matty are madly in love. It’s super-early days, but it feels right,” The Sun relayed. “They first dated, very briefly, almost ten years ago but timings just didn’t work out.”

The unnamed source added the Alwyn and Swift broke up in February, “so there was absolutely no crossover.”

There are plenty of Swifties online willing to put their names on their insta-reactions to the rumor.

Whether it’s true is anyone’s guess, but enjoy some of the Twitter fallout below, including a resurfaced tweet of Swift’s from 2014 kindly asking the media “to stop accusing all my friends of dating me.” Fitting.