Month: June 2023

Tupac is one of the most esteemed rappers in hip-hop history, which can sometimes overshadow the fact that in the years leading up to his death, he was working on a flourishing acting career. His first starring role was in 1992’s Juice, which had a cast featuring Omar Epps, Samuel L. Jackson, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson. The latter two have been married since 1980, and in a recent interview, Samuel looked back at the time LaTanya came down on Tupac for swearing.

On Sway In The Morning, Samuel told the story: “My wife was on that film, she was the chubby kid’s [Eric ‘Steel’ Thurman] mom. I guess ‘Pac was walking through a room one day and he was cussin’ somebody out. My wife grabbed him and was like, ‘Young man, you see all these women sitting in here? You can’t be in here cursin’!’ Everybody in the room was like, ‘[shocked gasp].’ And he looked at her and was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am.’ […] Everybody in the room was like, ‘Do you know who that was?’ She was like, ‘No! I have no idea who he was, but he shouldn’t have been cursing in front of all these women in this room.’ From that point on, every time he saw her, he was like, ‘Hey mom, how you doin’?’”

Check out the video above.

The first The Walking Dead spinoff, Fear The Walking Dead, has lasted for eight seasons, and it’s almost time to put a fork in that zombie’s head. The Walking Dead: The World Beyond ran for two seasons as planned, and we’re about to see a trio of new spinoffs arrive in the next year or so.

The first entry, AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City, will arrive with an initial six-episode season that premieres on Sunday, June 18. The series will reunite a non-dream-team, Maggie and Negan, for a Manhattan mission that manages to be a thrilling throwback despite the franchise and the characters’ baggage.

From there, we should expect news about release dates for the other two in-process spinoffs, the Daryl In Paris show and the Rick and Michonne series. In other words, fans of the original series have plenty to look forward to in the coming months. Hopefully, both Daryl and the audience will learn how he mysteriously washed ashore in France, and maybe we’ll find out why Rick was unable to escape CRM control for all these years.

Before that happens, Maggie will drag Negan some more, as he damn well deserves, and good on her.

AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 18.

Kid Cudi has a lot on his plate right now. The rapper shared his new single called “Porsche Topless” to kick off a new era. An album, a clothing line, and a movie are apparently on the way as well. Today (June 15), he announced the lineup for the second annual Moon Man’s Landing festival.

Taking place on August 19 at Cleveland, Ohio’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the festival will have Lil Uzi Vert, Coi Leray, $uicideboy$, Bashfortheworld, Siena Bella, and Chelsea Pastel. Find ticket information here.

Last year’s festival had Playboi Carti, Haim, Toliver, Dominic Fike, Pusha T, Jaden, and 070 Shake.

In September, Cudi said that he was stepping back from music to focus on other things. “I think I’m going to take a step back from the Kid Cudi stuff and focus a lot more on developing my own things,” he said. “Writing — whether it’s movies or TV shows — producing things, putting stuff together. Just really getting my production company [Mad Solar] up to a place where, in the next three or four years, we’re a household name. I really have goals. We’re off to a great start with the documentary, X, Pearl, and now, Entergalactic. I mean, we have four bangers so far, so I just want to see what else we can do and keep going.”

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert has been accused of bending the truth on relatively unimportant (yet still amusing) things like alleged “lipstick” stains, but sometimes, those allegations are more meaningful. This was the case when The New York Times reported that she claimed Colorado-focused 2020 mileage expenses that would have added up to driving a third of the way around the Earth’s circumference. There are also allegations of her paying rent and bills for her (now-defunct) restaurant with campaign money, as well as a rather unbelievable sum for phone calls and texts for the campaign.

As well, Boebert’s former Shooter’s Grill employees have aired grievances about their ex-boss allegedly spending restaurant funds on luxury items and breast implants, but the reports aren’t stopping with that collection of alleged sketchiness. The Daily Beast dug into Boebert’s most recent financial disclosures and found that royalties for her July 2022 memoir, My American Life, do not appear. A spokesperson told the publication, “The book royalties will appear in her 2023 disclosure. This is consistent with guidance from the House Ethics Committee.” The spokesperson maintains that Boebert didn’t receive royalties until January 2023, but the publication cites some grey areas that could present issues due to the bolded language:

The ethics instruction guide for 2022 congressional financial disclosures makes clear that members must disclose not only royalties they received, but anticipated royalties as well–“any royalties currently due from the publisher for completed sales.”

When The Daily Beast informed Boebert’s office about the rule, the spokesperson replied that they had reached out to the Ethics Committee ahead of filing, receiving a reply on May 11 that “no royalties needed to be disclosed in the 2022 financial disclosure since there had been no payment of royalties in 2022.”

The spokesperson added that the office is consulting ethics experts again, and would amend the report if needed.

Additionally, it would seem that Matt Gaetz found himself in a similar situation in 2021, after which he did amend his statements to include $25,000 in memoir royalties during the prior year. However, both Jim Jordan and Ronny Jackson reported their royalties (and associated earnings) in 2022 and 2021, respectively speaking, the year after their books went on sale.

As the Daily Beast notes, it’s unlikely that, if a violation is found, anything would actually happen to Boebert, but this certainly doesn’t help paint a rosy portrait after multiple other reports about allegedly sketchy financials.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Sukihana was in Atlanta last weekend to serve as a court-side commentator for The Crew League. It was supposed to be fun, but it devolved into a seemingly traumatic experience when YK Osiris came up behind her, rubbed her shoulders, and grabbed her jaw to kiss her. Sukihana was visibly shocked and uncomfortable, screaming and trying to avoid Osiris’ advances.

As video began circulating online this week, people rushed to her defense. Now, Osiris has posted an apology to Instagram on Wednesday night, June 14.

“I want to publicly offer my sincerest apology to Sukihana,” he wrote. “In an attempt to be playful, I misread the moment and violated Sukihana’s boundaries. I understand the importance of consent and I am embarrassed by my behavior. I take full responsibility and have made multiple attempts to apologize. I have the utmost admiration for Sukihana and it was never my intention to disrespect her.”

Earlier Wednesday, Sukihana appeared to address the incident on Twitter before deactivating her account (as captured by XXL).

“I drink to hide that I’m very sensitive,” she tweeted. “I feel things more than the average person. I stopped drinking yesterday but today I’ve been crying all day. I asked God to strengthen me and use me to help others and order my steps in his word. I just want to go away for a while.”

In Sukihana’s last tweet before deactivation, she said, “I am hurt and I am scared to stand up for myself.”

Kim Kardashian has a special mysterious someone in her life, but in case “Fred” goes the way of Pete Davidson, the reality star listed her biggest turn-ons in the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians.

“We made a man list, a man-ifest list,” she said. When asked what’s on it, Kim took out her phone and revealed what she’s looking for in a partner: “Number one, protect me. Number two, fight for me. Number three, good hygiene. Number four, calm. Five, no mom or dad issues. Six, patient. Seven, supportive, genuinely happy for me. Successful. Good teeth.” The episode cut to a confessional of Kardashian admitting that teeth are “one of my biggest turn ons. The straighter, the hornier, I’ll get. Just kidding… But not kidding.”

Kardashian wasn’t finished. “Spontaneous. Fun. My friends and family love him. Someone that can be a role model to my kids, especially that my boys can look up to. No heavy baggage. I have enough,” she said. “Taller than me. Someone that loves to work out. A motivated person. An independent person that’s not clingy. And someone with good taste.” Also, “no balding. But then, I don’t know. If I’m also in love, I’ll rub your bald head, you know what I mean? But we’re just talking about our perfection list.”

In other words, not Kanye West? Got it.

In May, it was revealed that Slowthai (real name Tyron Frampton) had been charged with rape. Now, the rapper has officially entered his plea at a Crown court in Oxford, England: Pitchfork reports that Slowthai has pleaded not guilty to two charges of raping a woman in 2021. The charges are for alleged oral and vaginal rape.

Slowthai appeared alongside another man, Alex Blake Walker, who also pleaded not guilty, to two charges of rape and another of sexual assault. The trial is set to commence on July 1, 2024. Both were granted bail on the condition that “they keep their solicitors informed of where they are living.”

In a statement shared in May shortly after charges were pressed, the rapper wrote, “Regarding the allegations being reported about me. I categorically deny the charges. I am innocent and I am confident my name will be cleared. Until then I will apply my energy to ensure this is concluded swiftly and justly. I ask that my supporters don’t comment about this situation and respect the process and privacy of my family during this time.”

After the charges were made public, Slowthai was dropped from the Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds festival lineups. This all comes shortly after the release of Slowthai’s latest album, Ugly, in March.

A sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie would be inevitable even if the animated film hadn’t made $1.3 billion at the box office and plenty more coins in VOD sales. There’s too much source material left to cover, like why is Lakitu making a documentary about Mario? And are Toad and Toadette… y’know? One thing that won’t be in the sequel (which hasn’t been officially announced yet but something is coming “soon”), however, is a pants-less Donkey Kong.

Or so Seth Rogen hopes.

“It’s a fun character, it’s a fun world,” the actor said about playing the barrel-throwing primate in a bonus feature on The Super Mario Bros. Movie home release. “I would be thrilled to see Donkey Kong go on more adventures… Maybe give him some pants this time.” And a longer tie (but not this long) to go along with his newfound sense of shame.

Rogen also said that he was “given the freedom to make the character my own,” according to Cinema Blend. “They generally told me that Donkey Kong was angry and yelling a lot, and so most the direction they gave me was to be angrier and to yell more.” That’s the same advice Steven Spielberg gave him on the set of The Fabelmans.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is available on Blu-ray and DVD now.

(Via Cinema Blend)

If you go by the charts, the best songs of 2023 have been all over the place. SZA’s 2022 standout “Kill Bill” has certainly had its moment, while country star Morgan Wallen has dominated in several realms. Taylor Swift’s 2022 entries have held strong, and Latin stars like Peso Pluma have made their mark. Even a decade-old song from Miguel has found new life in an ever-changing music environment.

With all that in mind, we’ve shifted from our typical listmaking to try something new in 2023. We asked the core Uproxx writers to each pick their favorite song of the year so far, and what we found is something that somewhat resembles the greater music landscape. Country, hip-hop, indie, pop, and afrobeats all make appearances, while Ice Spice is just as omnipresent here as she is in the real world. There’s even a couple chart-toppers in this mix.

Check out the best songs of 2023 so far, as chosen by the Uproxx staff, below.

100 Gecs – “Hollywood Baby”

The music landscape is as diverse and interesting now as it has ever been. Given that anybody with a laptop can create and release a decent-sounding album these days, it’s hard to be shocked. And yet, 100 Gecs surprise with pretty much every song they put out. On paper, what their hyper-pop distillation of ’90s alt-rock shouldn’t work, but songs like “Hollywood Baby” just do. Given, the unbelievably catchy pop-punk-ish track sounds relatively conventional for them, but it goes to show there’s more to 100 Gecs beyond making seemingly disparate sounds work together: They’re exemplary songwriters, too. – Derrick Rossignol

Arlo Parks – “Weightless”

Arlo Parks may be a musician, but she’s a poet first and foremost. The 22-year-old UK artist has been known to expertly wield her pen to write touching songs about mental health, mortality, and identity that bring listeners to tears. “Weightless,” which appears on her sophomore album My Soft Machine is no different. While much of the subject matter on her latest LP focuses more on budding relationships than waning mental health (we love to see it!), “Weightless” still manages to be just as moving. Her unique, honeyed vocals add a soaring dimension to the reverb-drenched instrumentals, and Parks even cuts in with a spoken-word verse about the all-too-familiar anxiety that takes over when near a crush. – Carolyn Droke

Ice Spice – “Gangsta Boo” Feat. Lil Tjay

With co-signs from Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice being crowned the People’s Princess is indisputable. Although the Bronx rapper found crossover success thanks to her guest verse on “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2,” Spice’s innovation in the drill scene shouldn’t be dismissed. As her first solo track to land on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Gangsta Boo” featuring Lil Tjay is the pop drill pocket Spice thrives in. Containing a sample of Diddy’s 2002 cult-classic song “I Need a Girl (Part 2),” an infectious chorus, and a fiery guest verse — it’s a sleeper hit. After the video shoot was canceled due to Tjay’s arrest, Spice moved on from promoting the song. However, it will live on far beyond her EP’s shelf life. –Flisadam Pointer

Lana Del Rey – “Let The Light In” Feat. Father John Misty

While Lana Del Rey’s newest album has plenty of fan-favorite standouts to choose from, it’s her collaboration with longtime buddy Father John Misty on “Let The Light In” that stands out. The harmonies highlight just how well she works with folksier artists — similar to 2017’s “Tomorrow Never Came” with Sean Ono Lennon. In this breezy song’s unique dynamic, Lana and FJM go back and forth before she decides, “Screw it, maybe you should and record some other songs.” This, coupled with the fact countless TikTok edits are set to the “love to love to love you / hate to hate to hate you” part, results in another modern classic from one of this generation’s most acclaimed songwriters. – Lexi Lane

Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

Miley Cyrus’ The career-best No. 1 single finds Cyrus rewriting Julia Roberts’ iconic Notting Hill line. Why stand in front of a boy, asking him to love her, when she can “love me better than you can”? Cyrus has been this individualistically empowered for a decade. It just took everyone else this long to meet her there. – Megan Armstrong

Militarie Gun – “Do It Faster”

Some songs just have it. “Do It Faster” by Militarie Gun is one of them. It has the adrenaline, the post-hardcore invigoration, the catchy hook to scream wherever you are in the mosh pit: “I don’t care what you do / Just do it faster,” Ian Shelton shouts. It has their signature barks to be emitted in unison; it has a less-than-two-minute run time that leaves no room for messing around. It’s an all-in ripper for anarchy, a call to immediate fervor. – Danielle Chelosky

Nicki Minaj – “Red Ruby Da Sleeze”

The truth is, Nicki Minaj isn’t slowing down anytime soon. When she teased a minute-long snippet of “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” in February with the Lumidee “Never Leave You (Uh Oh)” sample, it was highly anticipated. “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” checks off all the boxes that make a rap song great in this era of music: top-tier production (shout out to Go Grizzly, Cheeze Beatz & Tate Kobang), a nostalgic Y2K sample, a catchy melodic hook, masterful lyricism, and memorable Instagram-ready bars like, “Shout out to hoes that’s watchin’ me like Movados.” Nicki is playing the role of rapper, singer, and featured artist on this standout, resulting in a bold boost of confidence to the soul of all who listen. No, slowing down isn’t in the plans. “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” is merely a cute reminder that “bad gyal don’t die.” – Cherise Johnson

PinkPantheress & Ice Spice – “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2”

Breakout stars PinkPantheress and Ice Spice kicked off the year proving they were the ones to watch in 2023. With PinkPantheress’ painfully relatable account of a dishonest ex, and Ice’s punchy bars reminding us why she stays on his mind, the song has proven inescapable. Whether you’ve heard the song in the club or discovered it on one of many viral TikToks, you can’t help but shake your “duh-duh-duh” when “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” comes on. – Alex Gonzalez

Tyler The Creator – “Dogtooth”

Over the course of Tyler The Creator’s 10-year career in hip-hop, we’ve heard him angry, boastful, depressed, dismissive, gleefully defiant, introspective, and occasionally even impressed, but on “Dogtooth,” we finally hear him truly, ridiculously in love. Amid boasts about his luxury rides and snide jabs at phony would-be hangers-on, Tyler, at last, drops the facade of uncaring stoicism to simp out for his lady love for a minute, boasting “My girl look like Zazie Beetz and Kelis.” – Aaron Williams

Victony – “Soweto (Remix)” Feat. Don Toliver & Rema

With afrobeats’ increased presence in the mainstream light, fans of the genre have often been critical of the crossover collaborations, often in the form of remixes, that have been used to boost songs. It’s happened with records like “Essence” and “Calm Down,” but not with Victony’s hit record “Soweto.” That song, off his 2022 Outlaw EP, grew to prominence after it went viral on TikTok, and its remix with Don Toliver and Rema kept it close to its roots while simultaneously introducing it to a new audience. Rema’s verse on the remix has been memorized from start to finish by fans for what is now one of this year’s most well-received features and Don Toliver fits like a glove on the song’s new take to make it a textbook example of how crossover remixes should be done. – Wongo Okon

Wednesday – “Chosen To Deserve”

Part rock anthem and part teenaged dirtbag confessional, this is Karly Hartzman looking back on every bad decision she made in adolescence and concluding that she still deserves the world. But the words aren’t pushed to the forefront — it’s the crunching power chords borrowed from Southern rock gods Drive-By Truckers and that lifesaving pedal steel lick wafting throughout like a breeze on a sticky summer afternoon that immediately commands your attention. And, then on the 20th listen, Hartzman’s memoir finally lands a devastating blow. – Steven Hyden

Zach Bryan – “Dawns” Feat. Maggie Rogers

The meteoric rise of Zach Bryan during the pandemic era has been impressive to witness, especially as he operates far outside the normal country playbook. He generally eschews interviews, has licensed about 7000 songs to Yellowstone, and has hit both the top 10 on the Hot 100 and the top line of multi-genre festival lineups. But while his sound veers closer to the outlaw lane, this one-off collaboration with Maggie Rogers isn’t really a country song at all, showing the range and possibility for a young artist that doesn’t have expectations yet to defy. But while the male-female vocal tradeoffs and driving string section underscore the song’s emotional pull, it’s in Bryan’s words that he demonstrates his power, evoking his mother’s death, his relationship’s disillusion, religion, and the passing of time. Bryan is turning out great songs by the dozen these days, but “Dawns” is one of his best yet. – Philip Cosores

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

Ever since Elon Musk took over at Twitter, things have been going… not awesome. Now, there’s another wrinkle: The social media platform is being sued for $250 million by a group of 17 music publishers, The New York Times reports.

The lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in Nashville yesterday (June 14) and it alleges that Twitter is in violation of copyright law due to users posting music on the platform without permission.

David Israelite, the president of the trade group National Music Publishers’ Association, said in a statement, “Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service.”

Twitter was previously in negotiations with the music industry for licensing agreements, but negotiations broke down months ago.

The suit asks for statutory damages of up to $150,000 each for around 1,700 infringed works, which adds up to about $250 million.

A tweet cited in the suit is a popular post that uses two minutes of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” video. The lawsuit also makes note of “music publishers’ attempts to notify Twitter about infringement through the protocol outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act” (DMCA), but how Twitter regularly either delayed or failed to act on the notices.

The suit makes mention of specific Musk tweets from 2022 about copyright and the DMCA, in which he wrote, “Current copyright law in general goes absurdly far beyond protecting the original creator,” and, “Overzealous DMCA is a plague on humanity.”