Month: May 2023

On Wednesday, May 24, news broke that the legendary Tina Turner has died at 83 years old. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” reads a caption posted to Turner’s official Instagram. “With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”

According to The New York Times, Bernard Doherty, Turner’s publicist, confirmed that she’d passed away at her Küsnacht, Switzerland home. The cause of her death has not yet been made known. The publication noted that Turner had had a stroke some years back and was known to be suffering from kidney disease, as well as other illnesses.

Tributes immediately began pouring out online, including from the likes of Beyoncé, former US President Barack Obama, and Usher.

“My beloved queen. I love you endlessly,” Beyoncé wrote on her official website underneath a photo of her performing “Proud Mary” with Turner at the 2008 Grammys. “I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain. Thank you for all you have done.”

Obama also gushed over Turner’s irreplaceable spirit on Instagram and Twitter.

“Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable,” the former president wrote. “And she was unapologetically herself — speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy. Today we join fans around the world in honoring the Queen of Rock and Roll, and a star whose light will never fade.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also acknowledged Turner’s death:

On Instagram, Usher reflected on crossing paths with Turner:

“The Queen and a Pioneer of Rock n’ Roll, Anna Mae Bullock. Most notably known, as Tina Turner. I’ll never forget when I met you and how you made me feel.

You once said in an interview, ‘My legacy is that I stayed the course…from beginning to the end, because I believe in something inside of me.’

You have left such an impactful legacy on this earth and your very motivation to be the greatest inspires me till this day. Love you eternally. Rest peacefully.”

See a roundup of notable online tributes to Turner below.

Next month will mark one year since the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, and several musicians spoke out on the looming anniversary. On Wednesday, May 24, Ashnikko released a poignant reflection on the decision in the form of the cutting, immersive single “Possession Of A Weapon.”

“The human body has become a political chess piece in a game we cannot see,” Ashnikko said in a statement. “I’m in possession of the formidable p*ssy weapon. I built my world out of paper mache, only for the eyes in the sky to come rain down on it and leave it decimated.”

“Possession Of A Weapon” arrived with a video as bold as the song’s message. As Ashnikko’s ethereal vocals set the stage, we’re introduced several half-dressed people posing as statues. They begin to dance around Ashnikko when the beat drops.

“Possession of the p*ssy weapon / My sacral chakra heaven’s threatened,” Ashnikko sings. “It’s just flesh, it’s just flesh / I can be grotesque, move my body like chess / So you’re scared of me now, huh?”

Last week, Ashnikko announced the impending arrival of “Possession Of A Weapon” alongside an update that their forthcoming album, Weedkiller, has been pushed to an August 25 release date. “Possession Of A Weapon” follows the title track, “Worms,” and “You Make Me Sick” as singles off the LP.

Watch the “Possession Of A Weapon” video above.

Weedkiller is out 8/25 via Warner Records. Find more information here.

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

Hayley Kiyoko is slated to perform at Can’t Cancel Pride 2023 next month and the Panorama artist just added a song to her setlist.

On Wednesday, May 24, Kiyoko released “Greenlight.” The single is perseverance in pop form — an undeniably catchy glimpse into Kiyoko’s stream of consciousness as she tries to adjust her outlook.

“I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to prove my worth to people but have realized that if a situation in life is stopping you from moving forward or making you feel trapped, it’s okay to pivot in a new direction. Once I embraced that mindset, so many new doors opened,” Kiyoko said of the song’s inspiration in a statement.

She continued, “‘Greenlight’ is about making an active decision to put your energy into the things that are working. Of course, there will be roadblocks along the way, but we become our best selves when we surround ourselves with people who challenge us in a healthy way, encourage us to keep digging deeper and support our overall journey.”

The melodic chorus finds Kiyoko in the midst of that epiphany. “I keep on waitin’ on red lights / I keep on chasin’ the stop signs,” she sings. “Why isn’t anything movin’? Not movin’ / Can’t take it / I wanna know what it feels like / I wanna follow the green light.”

Kiyoko has plenty moving in her favor right now. The Panorama Tour has seven more dates, including back-to-back nights at Irving Plaza in New York, New York on May 30-31, before wrapping on June 2 in Silver Spring, Maryland. On May 30, Girls Like Girls, her debut novel, will be published. Pre-order it here.

Listen to “Greenlight” above.

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

Joe Biden and Donald Trump don’t have much in common apart from both being presidents. One is nice and chummy; the other mean and vindictive. They probably hate each other even more than people think. But on Wednesday, they both did the same thing: They dragged Ron DeSantis for his disastrous presidential campaign launch on Twitter.

Days ago, the Florida governor announced an unusual way to formally announce his 2024 run: Rather than hold some press event (or descend a golden escalator), he’d do it on Twitter Spaces. Teaming up with Elon Musk — and on a service that’s been plagued with problems ever since he took over and gutted the staff — was asking for calamity. And he got it. There were glitches from the start, and it took some 20 minutes for DeSantis to even speak. At one point the room crashed and they had to open a new one.

The launch was roundly mocked on social media, including by the men who could very well (or not!) become his predecessors. Let’s start with Biden, whose Twitter account mocked the technical difficulties with a simple tweet: the words “This link works,” directing users to his 2024 campaign site.

It may have been embarrassing for the relatively young DeSantis (and Elon Musk) to be pantsed by an 80-year-old man. Even worse, he was also belittled — relentlessly — by a 76-year-old.

As per The Daily Beast, Trump spent a lot of the lead-up to DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces gathering by lighting into him on Truth Social. He posted screengrabs of polls showing Trump trouncing him. He welcomed him to the race and warned him that he’ll be “attacked by the Marxists, Communists, and Radical Left Lunatics of our Country,” just as he had. At one point he called him “Rob,” which is admittedly kind of funny.

After The Twitter Spaces debacle, though, Trump really let it rip. He posted a video of a SpaceX rocket crashing and burning, the words “Ron! 2024” affixed to it.

He also posted a video juxtaposing his 2020 campaign launch with the snafus that plagued DeSantis’ 2024 one.

https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1661541710231371776

“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” he wrote later.

He also weighed in on other Republican contenders. “Tim Scott’s Presidential launch, even with the broken microphone (don’t pay the contractor, Tim!), was by far the best Presidential launch of the week,” he wrote. “Robs was a catastrophe!”

“Rob” is no “Meatball Ron,” which he swears he’ll never say, but it’s oodles better than “DeSanctimonious.”

Travis Scott has been teasing the seemingly imminent arrival of Utopia, his fourth studio album, which, to be fair, he’s been teasing in one way or another since early 2022. But earlier this month, he let Houston Astros players listen to the album in the clubhouse at Minute Maid Park before telling Fox 26’s Mark Berman, “It’s on the way now.”

While Scott is locked into music mode now, he already has eyes toward the future.

The rapper was on the cover of Pin-Up Magazine‘s “Body Issue” on Wednesday, May 24, and in the accompanying spread he was asked to share something about himself in accordance with the letters of the alphabet. For “A,” Scott said, “Architecture is my true passion. I plan to apply to the architecture program at Harvard GSD [Graduate School Of Design] when I’m done with music, which won’t be for a while. It would be dope to do both at the same time.”

Scott also noted that he likes cars and has “a very rare collection” and said “drawing, and visual art in general” were his “main inspirations” when writing music. Architecture isn’t his only true passion, as he used to same phrasing for graphic design. He also identified the person who has artistically influenced him the most.

“Making an impact is fun. But sometimes people also flip the question on you in weird ways,” he said. “There are people who don’t understand why you’re influential, and it can become an issue. The person who had the greatest impact on me and my taste level was Virgil [Abloh]. He was a true inspiration.”

Read the full story here.

Afrobeats’ footing in the United States is as strong as ever, as became apparent in January. Afro Nation will host its inaugural stateside festival at LoanDepot Park in Miami this weekend, May 27-28, with Burna Boy and Wizkid as its headliners. (The festival will hit Detroit in August.)

Afro Nation revealed the full schedule on Wednesday, May 24.

Burna Boy’s headlining set on Saturday, May 27, is scheduled from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on the Main Stage. He’ll be preceded by Asake (9:30-10 p.m.), also on the Main Stage, while Uncle Waffles is scheduled to perform on the Piano People Stage from 9-10:30 p.m. Other acts slated for Saturday include Mavado (8:30-9 p.m.), Dadju (7:45-8:15 p.m.), and CKay (7-7:30 p.m.).

On Sunday, May 28, Wizkid will take on the Main Stage from 10:30-11:30 p.m. after the likes of Rema (9:15-10 p.m.), Fireboy DML (8:15-8:45 p.m.), and Beenie Man (7:15-7:45 p.m.). The Piano People Stage will be occupied on Sunday by Major League Djz (9:30-10:30 p.m.), Kamo Mphela (9-9:30 p.m.), TXC (8-9 p.m.), DBN Gogo (7-8 p.m.), Kelvin Momo (6-7 p.m.), and DJ Walgee (5-6 p.m.).

See the full Afro Nation schedule and the site map below, and find more information about the festival here.

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

For the first time in 20 years, the Washington Wizards will bring someone in from the outside to run their basketball operations, as the franchise fired GM Tommy Sheppard earlier this offseason (who had been elevated from his longtime post as assistant GM in 2019).

On Wednesday, word broke from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the Wizards had filled that hole at the top of their front office by bringing Clippers general manager Michael Winger in to serve as President of Monumental Basketball, overseeing not only the Wizards but also the Mystics (WNBA) and Capital City Go-Go (G League).

Winger has been in L.A. since 2017 when he joined the Clippers to serve as GM under team president Lawrence Frank after seven years with the Thunder under Sam Presti. The task for Winger is not an easy one, as he steps into a team that hasn’t finished above .500 since the 2017-18 season and has a number of key decisions to make this summer. Kyle Kuzma is set to enter free agency and could be joined by Kristaps Porzingis, who has a player option for next year, and Winger will have to decide if he wants to make those two part of his long-term core alongside Bradley Beal (who is on a supermax with a no-trade clause) or make some substantial roster changes this offseason.

Nicki Minaj didn’t have any kind words for Yung Miami on Twitter on Wednesday, May 24, but she took a break to shower Karol G with praise.

Karol G is the newest cover star for Elle, and as part of her cover star duties, she participated in “Life In Lyrics” for the magazine’s YouTube channel. The Colombian artist spoke about”Tusa,” her 2019 collaboration with Minaj.

“When I had this song, I just text on Instagram to Nicki Minaj,” Karol G explained. “We never had met before, and it was so special for me that she loves the song, and she just jump on it — like, singing lyrics in Spanish. We were really grateful about her celebrating our Latina community.”

She continued, “And I remember [during] the pandemic, this song was one that people used to sing in the balconies, so this one is really, really special. I know you love ‘Tusa.’ I love ‘Tusa,’ too.”

Someone shared that clip on Twitter, which caught Minaj’s attention.

“But the thing is, Karol sent me another song @ first & I asked her to send smthng else,” Minaj tweeted. “She didn’t want to b/c she said the reggaeton was what was popping at the time. But she still sent a new song. When I heard Tusa I fell in love. I think I was pregnant. I was dancing w/husband non stop in the backyard. We swore we were doing the merengue. The song made us feel so happy. That’s how I knew it was the one.”

When another person said Karol G and Minaj “owe the world a performance” of “Tusa,” Minaj shared, “To be fair, Karol asked me to perform it with her on 2 different award shows, if I recall correctly. By that time I had gotten preggers tho & I was still keeping it a secret. I hated having to pass up on it but papa was growing in mama tummy. Lo siento por mis fans Latinos.”

“Tusa” is certified diamond as of November 2021, per RIAA.

Karol G recently announced she will embark on the Mañana Será Bonito Tour later this year, so maybe Minaj will make a surprise appearance and finally deliver “Tusa” in a live setting.

Watch Karol G’s “Life In Lyrics” video below.

Warning: This post contains spoilers about the most recent season of Succession (in a twist we more or less gave away in the headline).

Brian Cox is a lot warmer than Logan Roy, his tyrannical corporate despot on Succession. But he’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s not afraid, for instance, to talk smack about Johnny Depp. He’s not even above repeatedly trashing his on-screen son Jeremy Strong’s committed approach to acting. Well, guess what? Now he’s criticizing the writers of the show that made him a mega-star.

As per Deadline, Cox appeared on an episode of BBC Two’s Amol Rajan Interviews, where they discussed the shocking way the show dispensed with his ever-grumpy patriarch. Logan’s death came not in the final episode, nor even in one of the last ones. It happened in episode three of the final season. Suddenly Logan was lying prostrate inside a private plane, not breathing, while everyone panicked. Soon he was declared dead, just like that.

The move was widely praised, and the remaining episodes have all been nail-biters. But not by Cox. He called the most “ultimately too early.” Not that he thought Logan should make it to the end, or even never croak. He said he would have been fine with episode five or six.

Sounds like Cox’s beef with the premature passing is really about him suddenly no longer having to deliver any lines (or “f*ck off”s).

“I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected,” Cox said. “You know, I felt a little bit like all the work I’ve done and finally I’m going to, you know, end up as an ear on a carpet of a plane.”

As of this writing, there’s still one more, super-sized episode left. Maybe Cox will make another appearance in a flashback. Or maybe Logan will simply come back from the dead, angrier than ever.

(Via Deadline)

On Wednesday, May 24, Yung Miami teased an upcoming episode of her Revolt talk show, Caresha Please, with Summer Walker, due to air tomorrow, May 25. Alas, that episode will likely not live up to Nicki Minaj’s reaction to the teaser.

“*Hits Diddy to advise him that a young lady on a show that appears on his network seems to have ‘borrowed’ a very popular #QueenRadio catch phrase* Puff, who representing u these days chile?” Minaj tweeted in response to Miami’s trailer. “I got my sh*t drafted in my HEAD B!CH @YungMiami305 talkin bout u got into some thangssss. Um chile, anyways, so…”

“Nicki @NICKIMINAJ what’s really the problem??? cause I definitely didn’t get that from you LOL,” Yung Miami promptly responded. “‘let’s get into some thing Chile’ actually is a gay slang Lmaooooo.”

That tweet was followed by another from Miami aimed at everyone following along: “Y’all b*tches stfu and get tf out my mentions with that dumb sh*t tf.” Nobody can claim that she’s not a clear communicator.

Meanwhile, Minaj fired back at Miami’s defense with, “Caresha now you know damn well [six cry-laughing emojis] ‘gay slang is the first go-to nowadays. Let’s discuss it on #QueenRadio chile. If not, I’m hittin Puff right now. You know he used to manage me right? Now it’s my man my man my man [cry-laughing emoji] Puff what up? Hit my line chi @Diddy.”

Minaj also posted a Twitter poll with the message, “Talkin bout ‘gay slang’ caresha please! Let’s ask the gays ms B*tch!!!! @YungMiami305.”

Miami said she’s “ready when you are Ms. b*tch” to join Minaj on her Queen Radio, to which Minaj said, “*stops typewriter* *Looks at the first legal draft* *rips it up* *Hears puff desperately calling my line* *Doesn’t answer* *gets my questions ready for Ms Caresha*”

Diddy hasn’t tweet a peep so far, but Miami spoke for him across two more tweets: “Yeah I’m On my way to his house im Finna call you when I get there. Desperately??? It’s never giving that Nicki [four cry-laughing emojis] let’s be fr.”

As context , Diddy recently updated the world on his and Miami’s fluctuating relationship status after they appeared at the 2023 Met Gala together earlier this month. “We’re dating, and we’re just enjoying ourselves,” he told Vogue.

Way back in February 2022, Miami said in an interview with The Morning Hustle that any beef — perceived or real — between City Girls and Minaj had been “let go.” Guess not!

See all of the tweets below.