Month: June 2023

Are you not entertained by Mark Zuckerberg beating the snot out of Elon Musk?

The multi-billionaires and tech giants — with equally giant egos — may have found a location for their UFC-style cage match. “Some chance fight happens in Colosseum,” Musk tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, he wrote, “Need to work on my endurance,” along with a clip from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Musk has been known to “stretch the truth” on social media, but there’s a chance the fight could actually happen at one of Rome’s most iconic locations. TMZ reports that “the Minister of Culture reached out to Zuckerberg a few days ago about staging what could be the biggest fight in the history of the world in the most fabled fight theater in history. Our sources say both Elon and Mark would love for the fight to go down at the Colosseum.” They fancy themselves modern-day gladiators, so this 100 percent checks out.

We’re told Zuckerberg’s people passed on the message to UFC Prez Dana White, whose people contacted the Minister. As for the venue itself — one of the 7 Wonders of the World — there have not been large events held inside the nearly 2,000-year-old amphitheater in hundreds of years, and only a few hundred spectators can be seated in temporary seating within the theater.

Musk will invite his most Twitter loyal supporters, so @DogecoinToTheMoon69 can expect an invite any day. Assuming the real-life Wario (Zuck can be Waluigi) doesn’t back out because the fight will probably “go badly” for him.

(Via TMZ)

Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape has been a long time coming, but at last, it’s finally here. The project dropped at midnight and since then, it has taken over social media. Fans have been particularly whipped into a frenzy by the song “CS,” which turns out to be a cover of System Of A Down’s 2001 signature song “Chop Suey!.”

After the album’s release, the phrases “Chop Suey” and “SOAD” were trending on Twitter. Some Uzi fans are pumped, like one who wrote, “Lil Uzi Vert sampling Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE theme song, doing a cover to System Of A Down’s classic Chop Suey, and making a song with bands like Bring Me The Horizon and BABYMETAL was not on my 2023 bingo card. I have 0 complaints. It kicks ass and I want more of it.”

Meanwhile, some System Of A Down enthusiasts aren’t super impressed. One tweeted, “me seeing that system of a down is trending only to realize that people are talking about some mid ass chop suey cover,” alongside the meme of SpongeBob SquarePants‘ Squidward setting up a folding chair before going back inside in disappointment.

Listen to “CS” above and check out some more reactions below.

Pink Tape is out now via Generation Now/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

HBO’s The Idol is gearing up for its season (and possibly series) finale. Ahead of the upcoming fifth episode, The Weeknd has shared new music. One of the songs The Weeknd has shared tonight is a TK collaboration with Lil Baby and actress Suzanna Son called “False Idols.”

On “False Idols,” The artists offer a warning to those susceptible to the glitz and glamour of the A-List life.

“I done made it out the land of the brave / I can tell you, shake my aunt, daddy’s fate / Free the guys, the ones who never made a stage / Slidin’ with a Drac’, I made it home safe,” raps Lil Baby on the opening verse.

The Weeknd then comes in, instructing the listener to remain alert.

“Be careful who you call God / L.A filled with fake prophecies / They hate it when you get on top / Magazines tarnish legacies / Can you tell me how much did it cost? / A hundred mill’ ain’t a stretch for me,” he sings on the second verse.

Throughout the song, Son, who plays Chloe, a member of The Weeknd’s character, Tedros’ cult, offers sugary harmonies.

You can listen to “False Idols” above.

The season finale of The Idol will air this coming Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO. All episodes will be available to stream on Max.

A new era of Olivia Rodrigo is upon us. Tonight (June 30), the pop-rock princess has returned with “Vampire,” her first proper single in two years.

On “Vampire,” Rodrigo has some words for an ex of hers, whom she seems to be accusing of using her for fame.

“I used to think I was smart / But you made me look so naïve / The way you sold me for parts / As you sunk your teeth into me / Bloodsucker, fame f*cker / Bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

The song opens with melancholy piano chords, but smoothly transitions to a percussive, angsty instrumental.

“I was upset about a certain situation and went to the studio alone and sat down at the grand piano, and the chords and melody and lyrics just poured out of me — almost like an out-of-body experience,” said Rodrigo in a statement. “It’s a song about feeling confused and hurt, and at first I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad. But when Dan and I started working on it, we juxtaposed the lyrics with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now it’s like a heartbreak song you can dance to.”

In the song’s accompanying video, directed by Petra Collins, Rodrigo is seen singing alone in a forest, before it is revealed she’s been on a stage the whole time. She then escapes from the theater, finding solace in the rush of the city.

“Vampire” is the first single from Rodrigo’s upcoming album, Guts, which is set to arrive this fall. According to a statement accompanied by the album announcement, much of the album was recorded as she was breaking through within the pop music landscape.

“For me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life,” said Rodrigo. “I feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20—it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that’s all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully the album reflects that.”

You can check out the video for “Vampire” above.

Guts is out 9/8 via Interscope. Find more information here.

Colombian superstars Shakira and Manuel Turizo have shared a new collaboration. On their new song, “Copa Vacia,” the artists tell a painfully relatable story of two lovers struggling to make things work and to meet on the same page.

Over a reggaeton beat, the two lament over the distance and friction between them, with hopes that they can salvage their love.

“Hace rato tengo sed de ti / yo no sé por qué / Quedo con ganas de más y queriendo beber de una copa vacía,” the two sing on the song’s chorus. These lines translate to “I’ve been thirsting for you for a while / I don’t know why / You left me wanting more, and wanting to drink from an empty cup.”

In the song’s accompanying music video, Shakira is seen as a mermaid, being rescued by Turizo, as the two dance out their heartache. Shakira and Turizo also share steamy, intimate moments as they groove in the midst of pouring rain.

This collaboration comes as a full-circle moment for Turizo, who, in an interview with La Razon, revealed that Shakira was one of the artists he listened to the most growing up.

You can see the video for “Copa Vacia” above.

It’s been a little over two years since Lil Uzi Vert last released a full-length project, with that being his 2020 joint album Pluto x Baby Pluto with Future. His last solo effort came earlier that year with Eternal Atake and LUV vs. The World 2. All that to say that’s it been a while since Uzi delivered a full-length release. Though he numbed the wait with the Red & White EP, it truly comes to an end tonight with the release of The Pink Tape.

Ahead of its arrival tonight, Lil Uzi Vert went ahead and shared the tracklist for the project. The Pink Tape arrives with 26 songs including the fan-favorite “Just Wanna Rock.” Across the project, listeners will hear features from Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Don Toliver, Bring Me the Horizon, and BabyMetal.

You can view the tracklist for The Pink Tape below.

1. “Flooded The Face”
2. “Suicide Doors”
3. “Aye” Feat. Travis Scott
4. “Crush Em”
5. “Amped”
6. “x2”
7. “Died And Came Back”
8. “Spin Again”
9. “That Fiya”
10. “I Gotta”
11. “Endless Fashion” Feat. Nicki Minaj
12. “Mama, I’m Sorry”
13. “All Alone”
14. “Nakamura”
15. “Just Wanna Rock”
16. “Fire Alarm”
17. “CS”
18. “Werewolf” Feat. Bring Me the Horizon
19. “Pluto To Mars”
20. “Confession” Feat. Don Toliver
21. “Days Come And Go”
22. “Rehab”
23. “The End” Feat. BabyMetal
24. “Zoom (Bonus)”
25. “Of Course (Bonus)”
26. “Shardai (Bonus)”

The Pink Tape is out via Generation Now/Atlantic Records. Find out more information here.

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

We’re just a few months removed from the end of BMF season 2. The string of episodes for that season concluded with Meech and Terry splitting up for the first time to continue the BMF operation. While Terry would remain in Detroit, Meech decided that Atlanta was the place for him to continue his work. The season also ended with B-Mickie being exiled from BMF after he was caught talking to Detective Jin which led to a snitching accusation from both Meech and Terry. The temperature is going to turn up for BMF in season three and speaking of that…

Is There A ‘BMF’ Season 3 Release Date?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a release date for season three of BMF at the moment, but we now know that filming for the new season is complete. In a picture posted to Instagram, Demetrius Flenory Jr. (who plays Meech) and Da’Vinci (who played Terry) can be seen in a desert in Mexico. The caption reads, “JUST WRAPPED UP SEASON 3…. IN THE DESERT….. #SEEYALLSOON.”

It remains to be seen when the release date for BMF season three will be revealed. With the next release date in 50 Cent’s cinematic universe being Power Book IV: Force in September, the earliest we could expect it is at the end of 2023 or at the top of 2024.

Season 2 of ‘BMF’ is available on the STARZ app.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it’s wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations’ hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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These problems weren’t created by Boomers but by their hyper-online children and grandchildren who can’t seem to get their faces out of their phones.

A Reddit user named AnitaVodkasoda took to the AskReddit forum and asked posters to admit there were some things that Boomers got right. “What is something you can say ‘I’m with the boomers on this one’ about?” they asked, and many responses came from people fed up with the modern-day frustrations caused by technology and social media.

Here are 19 things that people think that Boomers got right.

1. App exhaustion​

“Any business which requires you to use an app. I don’t want to download an app, make an account, and remember said password for the account. Especially because the app doesn’t even work a lot of the time or is extremely convoluted with the frontend design.” — Sammy_Henderschplitz

2. Let kids play

“Kids do great with totally unstructured outdoor play. They don’t need an organized game or activity. If you take a bunch of kids to a park and keep an eye on them they’ll figure out stuff to do together and often come up with creative and interesting things that adults wouldn’t have thought of. Just keep them physically safe and let them run around and do kid stuff. You don’t need to curate everything.” — HeavyHebrewHammer

3. Pricey concerts

“Concert ticket pricing is too high. Once you get in a beer is $17!” — Whatabout-Dre

4. Tip creep

“Every business asking for tips at checkout. Digital menus. Not being able to own things anymore like software or having to pay monthly fees for car features.” — mutualbuttsqueezin

5. Phones at concerts

“Phones at concerts. I take one pic when the artist comes on and then I just enjoy the show. You’re never gonna look back at your sh**** videos with you singing off-key in the background lol just enjoy the music.” — Used_Eraser

6. Kids online

“Social media is unhealthy and children shouldn’t have unrestricted access to the internet.” — horrorflowers

7. Lazy tablet parents

“Parents who let their kids use tablets in public spaces with the volume all the way up, no headphones, and not doing it to stop an imminent tantrum (if they truly cannot get the kid out of that shared space for some reason) are trashy af. Fight me.” — kishbish

8. Bring back knobs

“Touchscreens in cars suck.” — sketchy_painting

9. Bad customer service

“Calling any business and getting an automated system that takes you 12 minutes to get through, doesn’t answer your question, and you can’t get a real person.” — SexyJesus7

10. Raising entitled kids

“The ‘my kid is never wrong’ attitude every parent seems to have now. And we wonder why there’s a teacher shortage.” — Cinderjacket

11. Emojis in work emails

“Learn to write a professional email. The number of Gen Z kids I’ve had who send me emails without salutations, with emojis and shorthand like lol omg etc, without proper spelling and punctuation, is crazy. That is fine for texting or exchanges with people you’re friends with, but it’s not for the workplace.” — pistachiobees

12. Paper straws

“Paper straws suck.” — JohnYCanuckEsq

13. Face tattoos

“Don’t get tattoos on your face.” — Disastrous-Aspect569

14. Gender reveals

“Just tell us if you are having a boy or girl. Or wait until the baby is born. We don’t need to assemble for some ridiculous reveal. I don’t want pink or blue dust all over the place.” — Kevin Dean

15. People are too sensitive

“I think people tend to be too sensitive, personal outrage shouldn’t be so important. It’s disheartening to see so many people whine and cry and fight over inconsequential nonsense while pressing issues remain unaddressed.” — Empathetic_Orch

16. TV sounds terrible

“Movies, and some TV shows for that matter, are mixed idiotically these days. I don’t appreciate having to crank the volume way up to hear the whispered dialog, only to have a music swell or explosion or something blow my head clean off. No amount of tweaking my sound system has fixed this.” — broberds

17. Affordable housing

“Being able to afford a house.” — The-Black-Douglas

18. Blinded by the lights

“Headlights are too damned bright now.” — 15all

19. The people on your lawn

“Get off my lawn.” — Disastrous_Motor_189

After the overturning of the Dobbs decision, people have been doing what they can to mitigate the repercussions but one of the first states to ban abortion is failing pregnant people in an unexpected way. Mississippi is one of the few states that had a trigger law in place before Dobbs was overturned. The law was set to go in place as soon as the Supreme Court turned the matter of abortion over to the states.

Some people celebrated that decision while doctors and other medical professionals prepared for the impact. While Mississippi doctors knew there would be an influx of dangerous situations, Mississippians weren’t prepared for the wide closure of labor and delivery departments across the state. Some in areas that where people already have to drive more than an hour away to get to maternity care.

This measure is not only to save money but because there’s now a shortage in obstetricians. The move is putting more pregnant people and newborns at risk as one OB-GYN attempts to prepare hospitals in the state for babies being born in the emergency room.

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Dr. Rachel Morris is an OB-GYN based in Jackson, Mississippi who started a program called Stork at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. After noticing the sharp increase in maternal mortality and morbidity rates of pregnant people in the state, Morris knew something had to be done. Stork provides training to emergency workers on how to deliver babies, help the mom recover and care for newborns after delivery.

“We started noticing increasing trends of maternal mortality and morbidity,” Morris tells CBS. “In the state of Mississippi almost ninety percent of the deaths that we encountered from 2017 to 2019, we’re talking pre-covid, were preventable.”

Mississippi has been leading the country in infant mortality for a while the maternal mortality rate is worsening according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. The department reports that “43% of maternal deaths were directly related to pregnancy,” and 87.5% were preventable. It also highlights that Black women were four times more likely to die pregnancy related deaths than white non-Hispanic women.

Yet, it the past year the only neonatal intensive care unit in the most rural and poorest part of Mississippi closed while some maternity wards in the state have shut down. The closures are affecting people across the state and isn’t isolated to the rural Delta community. Upworthy spoke with a woman who lives on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and expecting her third child who has had several major complications and requires extra care.

Hadley Hill is a young mom and teacher that enjoyed her experience with working with a midwife and delivering her second child at Singing River Hospital in Gulfport. She expected to have the same wonderful experience with her third, a baby boy, but early on Hill and her husband found out the baby had complications that would require further monitoring. The mom made a plan with her medical team to stick with her midwife and do follow ups with the OB-GYN as needed.

Things were going smoothly and the baby’s complications were being addressed but when she went in for her last appointment a couple of weeks ago, she was informed it would be her last visit. The labor and delivery department was closing and the midwife was no longer with the practice.

“We had been seeing her regularly, along with a few other doctors because of the complications,” Hill told Upworthy. “I hadn’t seen my midwife for a few visits, but I thought nothing of it because I had been seen by other people. It wasn’t until my most recent doctors appointment, the first visit of my third trimester, that the nurse asked me who was going to be delivering.”

This wasn’t a smooth transition for Hill and she still hasn’t located a new doctor or hospital she feels comfortable delivering her son.

“I’ll either have to deliver at Memorial Hospital with a new doctor this late into pregnancy or risk traveling an hour while in labor to New Orleans to keep my current midwife,” Hill explains.

After a previous bad experience delivering her first child with Memorial Hospital, Hill is reluctant to deliver another child there. But she feels like she has little choice since she works full time and has two other children, there’s little time in the day to find another OB-GYN that delivers at a hospital she can get to.

“Mississippi is setting us up for failure. Pregnant people living in Mississippi deserve safe and reliable access to healthcare, and it doesn’t seem to be a priority,” Hill tells Upworthy. “I can’t tell you how many times I look at what other states are doing for their pregnant population and wonder how nice that must be. Here we can’t even dream of paid maternity leave, we’re too busy searching for doctors and hospitals to safely deliver our babies.”

There are more pregnant people like Hill just learning of the closures and attempting to navigate a severely broken system in the state. Analyzing their risks for having to deliver out of state or driving hours to get to the nearest labor and delivery department. Until things start to turn around in Mississippi, programs like Stork will be pregnant people’s lifeline and the waiting list for trainings is currently six months long.

As we are in the thick of summer, this heat has us wanting to go back to December. Fortunately, Swifties won’t have to wait too long, as the arrival of Taylor Swift‘s re-recording of her third album, Speak Now is imminent. The album boasts some of Swift’s signature songs, including “Mine,” “Mean,” and of course, “Back To December.”

Tonight (June 29), fans got their first listen of “Back To December (Taylor’s Version).” A preview of the song plays in a trailer for the second season of Prime Video’s series, The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Based on the young adult novel series, The Summer I Turned Pretty tells the story of Isabel “Belly” Conklin, who gets caught in a love triangle while on summer vacation. The second season will premiere on July 14.

At the time of writing, we haven’t heard much regarding Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). While we know that we’ll get to hear new vault tracks with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams of Paramore, Swift has not yet released a single or a video from the re-recording.

But you can hear a preview of “Back To December (Taylor’s Version)” above.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is out 7/7 via Republic. Find more information here.