Month: June 2023

Killer Mike knows what it takes to succeed now. Mike and El-P are 10 years deep in Run The Jewels, hitting the road later this year to celebrate their success as a duo, and Mike is preparing to release his first solo album since 2012, Michael.

As the latest cover star of Spin, the Atlanta-bred artist and activist reflected on being signed to Columbia Records early in his career.

“My first record deal damaged me,” Killer Mike told the publication. “It made me afraid, it pulled me back. I hadn’t done terribly on the major. I just, you know, I came out the same year as 50 [Cent] selling 10 million f*cking records. I sold, you know, 500,000.”

Writer Khari Nixon contextualized that as “lukewarm at best” in 2003 because Killer Mike had just won a Grammy as a contributor to Outkast’s Stankonia album, even though 500,000 album units represents the higher end of the spectrum in today’s music landscape.

Killer Mike’s experience on Columbia crystalized for him that he belonged “in independent circles,” and his actions backed up his verbal commitment to life as an independent artist, as revealed elsewhere in the cover story:

“It wasn’t before long that [Cuz] Lightyear had an official job title on the project: A&R. With that job came a salary. Killer Mike paid it out of pocket. By the time they’d brought the project to No ID to transform it from mixtape to album, Mike was over a quarter-million dollars in the hole. As things developed, that number ballooned to over a half-million. This type of bill would normally place an artist in hot water with their label. At the time, Killer Mike was a free agent. He would eventually strike a deal with Loma Vista Records, which has distributed records by Denzel Curry and Action Bronson, to distribute Michael upon release. The advance from that deal would reimburse Mike for the money he’d invested into making the album.”

Michael was officially announced in late April. Killer Mike has released singles “Don’t Let The Devil” alongside El-P and “Motherless” featuring Eryn Allen Kane. He’s also teased “Scientists & Engineers” featuring André 3000 and Kane, which almost didn’t make the tracklist.

Mike will support the album this summer with a solo headlining North American trek, The High & Holy Tour. See all the dates here.

Michael is out 6/16 via Loma Vista Recordings. Find more information here.

Are you ready for The Original Beef of Chicagoland to return? Make that The Bear, as the restaurant was rechristened in the first season finale of The Bear.

All the Chefs are back in place to reopen the joint in a slightly classier incarnation, and FX has followed up on that spectacular spaghetti feast and a plot-heavy Season 2 trailer with a teaser that promises that the sleeper series’ mood will not change.

In other words, get ready to relive the vibe of that unyieldingly stressful penultimate episode again, and then realize that this vibe is somehow still irresistible like a truly toxic but heady brew. Will Richie get stabbed again this season? I think that should happen every year. Make a different character do it each time. People will enjoy it, and he deserves it. Here’s that teaser, by the way, with no stabbing included:

Hmm. Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy looks like he showered a few times before group sharing, and that’s promising, but of course, his grunged-up appeal will hopefully loom large over most of the sophomore season. Ideally, Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney will continue to put smartass dudes (like Richie) in their places, and if we don’t see Jon Bernthal make a flashback cameo, the Chefs in the audience may not be satisfied. We won’t have to wait long to find out.

The Bear will officially be back on June 22.

Haim has made it big. Opening for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour, casually chatting with Jay-Z and Beyoncé, performing at the 2021 Grammys — their world domination is absolutely undeniable. However, it wasn’t easy at the beginning, according to the trio.

In a new interview with People, the three sisters discussed the obstacles they had to overcome back when they were first starting out as a group.

“We played at country fairs, church fairs, charity events,” Alana explained. “In our minds, we weren’t great — we were amazing.”

She continued, “No one wanted to sign us. The amount of people who were like, ‘You’re never going to make it. Give up!’”

Danielle expanded on that, saying, “People would say to us, ‘You’ll never get a record deal. A girl rock band, unfortunately, is not something you see.’ People used to say that sh*t all the time. But we had such a crazy focus, plus we’re sisters — we’re like a wolf pack.”

“We’ve done so many things in our career, despite what people in the industry have said,” she continued. “Being told you’ll never sell out a venue, then you do. You’ll never headline a festival, and then we do. It fuels the fire.”

Bryan Cranston, who gave one of the all-time great performances in TV history as Walter White on Breaking Bad, is retiring from acting… in 2026.

“I want to change the paradigm once again,” he told GQ UK. “For the last 24 years, [Cranston’s wife] Robin has led her life holding onto my tail. She’s been the plus one, she’s been the wife of a celebrity. She’s had to pivot and adjust her life based on mine. She has tremendous benefit from it, but we’re uneven.”

He added, “I want to level that out. She deserves it.”

The multi-time Emmy winner plans to shut down his production company, sell his stake in Dos Hombres Mezcal (which he co-owns with Aaron Paul), and move away from the United States, maybe to France. “I want to have that experience,” he explained. “I want to go for day trips and have the fire in the fireplace and drink wine with new friends and not read scripts. It’s not going to be like, ‘Oh, I’ll read and see what I’m going to do.’ No, it’s a pause. It’s a stop. I won’t be thinking about [work]. I’m not going to be taking phone calls.”

There’s plenty of Cranston to go around until his retirement, however: he’s in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, as well as Argylle, alongside Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa, and the inevitable Malcolm in the Middle reunion. Someone better get the ball rolling on the Willie Nelson biopic, too. The clock is ticking…

(Via GQ UK)

Jennie is already a K-pop star thanks to her work in Blackpink, and now she’s starting her journey as an actor with her role in the new HBO series The Idol. In a new interview, she spoke about some aspects of being on the show, including the tight schedule she was under to learn some choreography.

In a brief interview video shared by Max on YouTube yesterday (June 7), Jennie noted, “I didn’t have a lot of time to learn the choreo for the dance scenes. Thankfully, I do this all the time, so it came naturally to me.”

She also spoke about working with Lily-Rose Depp, saying, “It was amazing. I’m so lucky to have worked with someone that I’ve known for a long time, and she’s a superstar and I’m just so lucky. I had so much fun.”

Jennie also laid out what it takes to be a pop star: “To be a pop star, I think: perseverance and determination.” Elsewhere, she talked about how it feels to be at the Cannes film festival (“I’m very honored and overwhelmed”), one item she brings with her everywhere (“My own pillow”), and what she wants the world to know about her (“That this is just the beginning [laughs]”).

Check out the video above.

One of the NFL’s most productive running backs is about to hit the free agent market. According to multiple media reports, the Minnesota Vikings have decided to release four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook after an offseason filled with rumors that the team would look to figure out a trade.

According to Schefter, Minnesota plans to canvass the league one more time with the hopes of finding a trade for Cook, but if that can’t happen, he’ll get released on Friday. Both Schefter and Mike Florio put out some potential suitors for Cook, with the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins popping up for both squads. Florio also floated the possibility of Cook joining the New York Jets.

Cook, who turns 28 right before the 2023 season begins, has made the Pro Bowl in each of the last four years, and is unquestionably among the best running backs in the NFL. Last season marked the first time in his career that Cook was able to play in every game, and he was able to carry the ball 264 times for 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns. He is a prolific receiver out of the backfield, too, and in 2022, Cook caught 39 balls for 295 yards and a pair of scores.

Robert Horry has seven NBA championships to his name, but his name has been used in song lyrics way more than seven times.

The former Houston Rocket, Los Angeles Laker, and San Antonio Spur joined Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke last week. With around six minutes left in the nearly 90-minute episode, Barnes asked Horry to choose the “best Robert Horry name-drop in a song.”

Horry giggled before launching into his answer(s).

“I’m in so many damn songs,” Horry said. “I remember, we were at a light, and this dude pulls up next to us, and we just happened to have the windows down. We was in Pensacola, Florida, and dude was playing Kevin Gates. Kevin Gates named my name, and it’s a white guy in a Challenger — bopping his head.”

Horry described being in the passenger’s seat as his ex-wife was driving, and the White Man Driving A Challenger in question doing a double-take when Gates dropped Horry’s name in a bar.

“My current wife hates this song. I love this song. ‘Don’t you open up that window,’” Horry added, singing Travis Scott’s “Antidote.” He continued, “My wife, every time, she [says], ‘Is there something you need to tell me?’”

Someone off-camera asked Horry if he’s gotten in trouble with his wife for the song. He confirmed he has not gotten in trouble, but he still might playfully confront Scott about it.

“I met Travis Scott once. He was a huge Rockets fan — still is to this day — and I met him. I almost wanted to say, ‘Man, why you put me in that song? And what you mean by three-peat three h*es the other week?’ It’s just fun, man,” Horry said.

Horry additionally recalled a game in New Orleans during his playing days when he “ran up to Lil Wayne and said, ‘Dude, I’m honored, man, that you even know who I am.” And while his wife might not necessarily be the biggest fan of hearing her husband’s name in racy rap lyrics, he said his kids “are more proud of it than I am.”

Scott’s 2015 seminal hit “Antidote” features Scott rap-singing in the first verse, “I just hit a three-peat / F*cked three h*es I met this week (Robert Horry).”

Last month, Scott previewed his highly anticipated forthcoming album Utopia for the Houston Astros, so at least if one of them is name-checked, he’ll have a heads up. There is no official release date for Utopia, but he’s been slowly testing out songs on the presumed tracklist, including one featuring Bad Bunny.

Watch Horry’s All The Smoke episode above.

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

On top of featuring groundbreaking animation and a wildly creative plot, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also bucked superhero movie convention by not having a post-credits scene, give that those have practically become a staple in the comic book film genre. However, producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have recently revealed that it wasn’t for lack of trying.

According to Lord, a post-credits scene featuring The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) was kicked around, but never made it past the idea stage as the producing team realized that the highly anticipated sequel doesn’t even need an end-credits scene.

“Hard to beat where we left of,” Lord said before walking through The Spot moment that would’ve toyed around with the character’s body full of inter-dimensional portals.

Via IndieWire:

According to Lord and producing partner Chris Miller, the first scene had Spot hanging out at a Spidey villain bar but can’t get a drink because no one will notice him. “And then he finally steals the drink for himself and he pours it down and it all leaks out of his holes,” Lord said. “He’s the dorkiest villain. A great line that Chris wrote, though: ‘Trying to fill a hole in his heart with more holes.’ Not a great method.”

Bucking tradition by not having a post-credits scene clearly hasn’t hurt Across the Spider-Verse. The film is racking up rave reviews and crushing the box office.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.

Kid Cudi just returned with his new single “Porsche Topless.” It arrived after he said that “so much” was coming — an album in the fall, a clothing line, a movie.

Unfortunately, it looks like there was an issue with “Porsche Topless” that he had to address on Twitter — Apple Music put the wrong lyrics to go with the song.

“Hey Guys @AppleMusic,” he tweeted, “I put in the time to write out all my lyrics and send them to u. Its really stressful to see you guys just make up whatever lyrics you want and not include the proper lyrics that were given to you. Please fix PORSCHE TOPLESS so my fans have the correct lyrics. Thanx! Scott.”

Luckily, Apple’s DJ Reflex fixed it soon afterward.

It was revealed in April that Cudi would be starring in and co-producing Hell Naw, Sony Pictures’ “action horror-comedy” produced by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. “This movie has been five years in the making. I am telling the world now, this film will f*ck you up in all the best ways. I have been a horror fan since I was 7 years old, the first horror movies I ever saw were Night Of The Living Dead and Evil Dead. And from that point on, I was hooked on the feeling of being frightened. I’ve been wanting to get into this world creating my own stories for a long time, and now, and after years of working it out in my head, it’s finally happening,” Cudi said about it.

The trailer for Poor Things begins with Willem DaFoe introducing Ramy Youssef to Emma Stone, who is trailed by some sort of duck-dog hyrbid. “Bella, this is Mr. McCandles,” he says. She responds by hitting him in the face with her palm. It only gets weirder from there.

Poor Things comes from director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Tony McNamara, who previously worked together on Best Picture nominee The Favourite. Stone plays an “expirement” whose “brain and her body are not quite synchronized.” It’s kind of a Frankenstein story, if Frankenstein (FINE, Frankenstein’s Monster) had sex and kicked people in the balls. Count me in!

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Poor Things comes out on September 8th.