Month: June 2023

Roots Picnic was this past weekend, and on June 3, Lauryn Hill performed her set. In a surprise move, to wrap up her time on stage, she brought out Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel for a six-song Fugees reunion performance. The group had been trying to make a reunion happen for some time now, and they finally did.

What’s bittersweet here, though, is that this could be the last time the three perform together.

In April, Pras was found guilty on a number of federal charges, including money laundering, campaign finance violations, acting as an unregistered agent for China, concealment and false record-keeping, witness tampering, and making false statements. Ultimately, he could spend up to 20 years in prison, meaning that future Fugees performances with him do not seem likely.

Questlove shared a video of the performance on Instagram and wrote, “@MsLaurynHill did us a solid by letting us not only letting us celebrate with her the classic #MiseducationOfLaurynHill but she also made a moment by bringing together her bredren @WyclefJean & @PrasMichel ……in what could possibly be one of the last times we will see this institution together in this setting. I’m giving all the gratitude for making this miracle of a night happen.”

Lately, The 1975’s Matty Healy has mostly been in the news due to things like his rumored relationship with Taylor Swift and Noel Gallagher calling him a “f*cking slack-jawed f*ckwit.” Previously, though, it was his on-stage antics that were generating the attention. Now, he’s gotten back to his roots in that regard.

This weekend, The 1975 performed at NorthSide Festival in Denmark. As NME notes, since 2014, Healy has taken to kissing audience members as the band performs “Robbers.” He got a smooch in at NorthSide by kissing a male security guard during the song.

Of course, the context is different this time, as Healy is supposedly dating Swift. He actually refused to do any on-stage kissing back in January, when Swift was in attendance, saying, “I’m not kissing anybody in front of Taylor Swift, have some respect. In front of the queen? It’s not happening.”

Meanwhile, Healy seemingly addressed the Swift rumors recently, saying at his band’s set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival in Dundee, Scotland, “Is it all a bit? Is it sincere? Will he ever address it? All of these questions and more will be ignored in the next hour. Ladies and gentlemen, this is The 1975.”

The Miami Heat have evened the NBA Finals at a game apiece after stealing Game 2 in Denver thanks to a furious fourth quarter comeback to beat the Nuggets 111-108.

It was a wild game, with Miami taking a double digit lead in the early going before Denver went on a 40-14 run to seize control in the second quarter. In the third, the Heat clawed back into the game, but saw Nikola Jokic put the Nuggets on his back to close the quarter, pushing Denver out to an 8-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

There, Miami finally took advantage of the non-Jokic minutes, with Duncan Robinson spearheading the effort to open the quarter as he scored 10 points in the first 2:16 of the fourth quarter to push Miami out to a three-point lead (with some help from Gabe Vincent who had 23 points to lead the Heat in scoring).

Miami would continue growing that lead steadily through the rest of the quarter, and a Bam Adebayo dunk looked like an early exclamation point on a win for Miami as they took an 11-point lead with just under five minutes to play.

However, the Nuggets would get hot late, with a pair of late threes helping get Denver within three.

From there, Jimmy Butler would miss a three to give Denver a chance at the tie. Murray brought the ball up the floor, as Michael Malone opted against a timeout, which was understandable right up until Murray had to go backwards towards midcourt and circle around for a desperation shot that rimmed out.

Malone not wanting to go up against the Heat defense when set and let his stars go to work in semi-transition makes plenty of sense, but once that broke down it’s hard not to wonder if they should’ve tried to draw something up. In any case, they now have to go win a game in Miami to reclaim an advantage in this series, and they’ll need all of the non-Jokic players to step up in a way they did not on Sunday.

Jokic scored 41 (along with 11 rebounds and four assists) on 16-of-28 shooting, but the rest of the starting five aside from Aaron Gordon (who is supposed to be the fifth option) struggled. Murray finished with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, thanks to that late flurry, but they’ll need a steadier game from their second star going forward. Also of concern is the continued shooting woes from Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who combined to go 2-of-9 from three.

That stands in stark contrast to the Heat who bounced back from some shooting struggles early in Game 1 and once again knocked down nearly 50 percent of their threes on the night as a team (17-of-35). Max Strus once again took 10 threes but this time made four, while Vincent was 4-of-6 from deep to continue his incredible postseason and Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry combined to go 4-of-6 off the bench. The refrain all postseason has been “can Miami keep shooting like this?” and, once again, the answer was yes. Denver was out of sorts on a number of occasions defending screen actions, losing shooters due to poor communication, and as opposed to Game 1, they were punished for it.

Now the series shifts to Miami, where it still feels like the Heat are operating with less of a margin for error but also have shown they can execute at a level where that doesn’t prohibit them from winning.

As expected, the Miami Heat came out as the aggressors in Game 2 after a dismal showing offensively in the first game of the NBA Finals. However, Denver weathered the early onslaught from Max Strus and the other Miami shooters, and clawed their way back from an early double-digit deficit to trail by only three heading into the second quarter.

With Nikola Jokic headed to the bench for his typical rest to start the second, it was a pivotal time in the game with Miami figuring to have a chance to reclaim control. Instead, the Denver bench and Jamal Murray opened the period on a 21-6 run to take a 12-point lead, as they got hot themselves from three and started to ratchet up their defensive pressure.

The exclamation point on the run to open the second quarter came from Murray, who got a steal on Strus and broke into the open floor for a dunk. Strus tried to chase him down and foul him, but only succeeded in whacking Murray in the back of the head as he threw down a vicious dunk, delivering a quick staredown to Strus before heading to the free throw line.

It was an impressive play from Murray on both ends, but the finish was particularly strong given the contact right as he got to the rim. It was also good to see the officials allow for some Finals emotion from Murray with the quick staredown — and good on him to not press his luck and move on quickly.

Adam Silver joined the NBA TV set prior to Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. While he had an audience with the commissioner, Charles Barkley decided to pepper Silver with a few questions about a thing that he admits he does not understand: the in-season tournament that the league is going to adopt starting next season.

The tournament has been a project that Silver has reportedly wanted the league to add to its schedule for years, and is now slated to begin in 2023-24 as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. It’s had plenty of detractors, as do most new things, and Barkley basically got the chance to speak for them in asking Silver about the whole thing, going as far as to say “I don’t understand the midseason tournament.”

Silver compared it to both European soccer (i.e. a new trophy for teams to try and win) and college basketball (i.e. there are tournaments during the year, a la the Maui Invitational, that don’t replace the NCAA Tournament but add something to the regular season). Barkley asked if the tournament would be made up of “the weaker teams or the better teams,” to which Silver said it’s every team.

“Well, ok, so, we already got the load management issue, ok?” Barkley said. “Why would I risk — if I’m one of the teams who’s trying to win the Larry O’Brien trophy — what’s in it for me to play in that tournament? We’re already having a hard time getting these guys to play.”

Silver basically explained that the games would happen regardless, as a handful of regular season games are going to be designated as tournament games, and that there’s prize money associated with the whole thing. (It is worth mentioning that, in Draymond Green’s Twitter thread about the new CBA, he noted that the $500,000 that each player will receive for winning the whole thing is lower than the originally reported number of $1 million.) It’s unclear if all of this was able to get Barkley to warm up a bit on the idea, but our hunch is that if the tournament ends up being good next year, that’ll get the job done better than anything else.

Sunday was the 23rd anniversary of an iconic playoff moment, as it was on June 4, 2000 that the Lakers completed a 13-point fourth quarter comeback to beat the Blazers in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

That win was punctuated by the lob from Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O’Neal that has lived on highlight reels ever since, with Shaq finishing with one hand and then pointing to stands in celebration as he ran back down the floor.

Shaq was once again part of NBA TV’s pregame coverage in Denver on Sunday, and Matt Winer asked him about that moment and whether it felt like it was 23 years ago. Shaq said he couldn’t believe it was that long ago, before getting a bit emotional talking about how seeing that highlight just reminds him of the loss of Kobe three years ago.

“I’m happy that happened, but every time I see my young fella, he’s not with us anymore, kinda makes me sad,” Shaq said. “Shout out to his mom and dad, we talk all the time, his sisters. Of course it was a happy moment, but if I could trade that moment and have him sitting here with us or be able to text him and say, ‘Kob’ can you believe this happened 23 years ago?’ that would be better for me.”

Shaq doesn’t often show a lot of emotion publicly, but his sentiment is one shared by the basketball world as a whole, as every Kobe highlight and anniversary comes with the bittersweet reminder of his passing.

Last week, Congress voted on a bill that would raise the debt ceiling, thus avoiding a crisis that would see the nation defaulting on its loans and triggering a potential worldwide economic meltdown. It almost didn’t come off thanks in part to the MAGA wing of today’s Republican Party. That includes Lauren Boebert. Turns out she didn’t even vote, claiming she declined out of protest. But new video suggests that might not be on the level.

As per The Daily Beast, CNN associate producer Morgan Rimmer posted a short video on Sunday that appeared to show Boebert scrambling up the steps of the Capitol building at night. Rimmer can be heard off-screen informing her, “They closed it.” “They closed it?” Boebert replies. “Yeah,” Rimmer tells her, though that doesn’t stop Boebert from continuing to run.

Rimmer posted the video as a quote-tweet to a video Boebert posted on Saturday. “I was ticked off: They didn’t let me do my job. So I didn’t take the vote,” she claims. She echoed Marjorie Taylor Greene’s description of the bill as a “crap sandwich” (though Greene’s term for it was a bit more blue) then called her absence a “no-show protest.” She added that she refused to be a part of adding more to the already astronomical debt (that rose $7.8 trillion during the Trump presidency thanks in part to tax cuts).

It was a big day for Boebert, who usually doesn’t make as much news as her on-off pal Greene. Earlier in the day it was revealed that, after a new DNA test, former professional wrestler Stan Lane was not her dad, as her mom has alleged for decades.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Lil Uzi Vert has an emo side. This was shown off at the Paramore concert at Madison Square Garden held on May 31, during which the rapper joined the band for the classic pop-punk hit “Misery Business.” Hayley Williams welcomed them onstage, saying, “[We’ve been] talking for a minute, but this is the first time we’ve met in person. I love you.” She then embraced them in a hug.

Now Uzi has hopped on a song called “AmEN!” with Bring Me the Horizon and Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo. The track is immediately explosive, digging into Bring Me The Horizon’s metalcore roots (oldheads who are fans of their ruthless 2008 LP Suicide Season are definitely enjoying the return of relentless, blood-curling screams from frontman Oli Sykes).

The seething track fits Uzi’s verse seamlessly: “Patiently waiting / To watch me bleed / Get your head from out of my ass / Got me feeling like a human centipede,” they rap unsettlingly. The anthem bursts with rapid-fire rage, with Sykes roaring as the hook: “Just let me suffer / Just let me breathe.” Palumbo is a great addition to the equation as well, bringing some Long Island style resentment to the track.

Listen to “AmEN!” above.

Lil Uzi Vert and Paramore are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Skrillex kicked off 2023 with his first album in nine years, Quest For Fire, featuring Fred Again.. and Flowdan. The next day, he debuted another new album called Don’t Get Too Close, which had a whole slew of unbeatable collaborators like Justin Bieber, Kid Cudi, Chief Keef, Swae Lee, Yung Lean, Bladee, PinkPantheress, and more.

While the iconic DJ has been on fire with these releases, he unfortunately quite literally caught some heat during his Primavera Sound set on Friday, June 2. According to Pitchfork, a small fire in one of the lights onstage caused a 10-minute pause in the midst of his performance. There were no injuries.

“@Skrillex is so fire, the stage literally burns,” one fan wrote on Twitter, sharing a video of the incident. The audience sounds more amused than concerned as embers descend from the top of the stage in an undeniably cinematic manner (the fire was, in fact, not a paid actor).

Skrillex also stole the show at Coachella earlier this year, when he ended up taking over Frank Ocean’s slot after the Blonde performer dropped out. After Ocean didn’t use the ice skating rink that was created for his set, Skrillex, Fred Again.., and Four Tet made use of it.

Mark Hamill will forever be associated with Luke Skywalker. But the Star Wars Jedi isn’t the only iconic character he’s portrayed. To some, he’s arguably even better as the voice of Joker, which he started doing on Batman: The Animated Series in the ‘90s. It might seem like outside-the-box casting: Where Luke is (at least at first) boyish and earnest, the clown that fights Batman is very much the opposite. Indeed, Hamill may never have had the guts to try out for the role had it not been for someone who played the Caped Crusader.

“I had a confidence that really helped me, because there was this big outcry that Michael Keaton was going to play Batman,” Hamill said in a new video interview for Wired (as caught by IndieWire). “‘Oh he’s Mr. Mom, he’s a comedy actor.’ I mean they hadn’t even seen him, and they didn’t realize how great he would become. But there was great controversy.”

He continued: “So when I went in, I thought, ‘You think they’re going to hire Luke Skywalker to play the Joker? The fans will lose their minds!’ I was so sure that I couldn’t be cast, I was completely relaxed. A lot of times there’s performance anxiety because you want the part; here I knew I couldn’t get the part, so, who cares? And I drove out of the parking lot thinking, ‘That’s the best Joker they’ll ever hear, and it’s too bad they can’t cast me.’”

But, of course, Hamill did nab the role, which initially gave him some anxiety. “I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do this!’” he recalled.

But he could do it, and he’s been doing it for decades now. The last time he voiced Joker was on three episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, from 2019 and 2020. It sounds like it’s fun playing him “because he’s insane, and because he’s insane, he’s never boring. It’s just fun to play a character who creates chaos everywhere he goes.”

Meanwhile, Hamill recently announced that he’s almost certainly never returning to the Star Wars-verse again. And Keaton? He’s back as Batman for the first time in over 30 years.

You can watch Hamill’s full Wired video interview below.

(Via IndieWire)