Month: July 2023

No one in the Republican primary has rained more fire down on Donald Trump than Chris Christie. While that strategy has yet to prove effective with a GOP base who may still be hopelessly chained to the former president, it hasn’t stopped Christie from hammering Trump at every turn.

While discussing the seemingly endless parade of Trump indictments, Christie once again tapped into his experience as a federal prosecutor to explain why voters shouldn’t be waving away the charges. Here’s what the former New Jersey governor recently told Pod Save America after being asked if he’s ever “heard of someone facing between four and six trials within a few months for different legal issues.”

Via Mediaite:

“No. No. Usually, folks like this commit discrete crimes,” Christie joked. “And wind up having one trial. This guy has been a one man crime wave. Look, he’s earned every one of them. If you look at it, every one of these is self-inflicted. And that’s why, you know, do I think that prosecutors exercise prosecutorial judgment in discretion in some respects that are questionable? Yeah – and they always have.”

Always the prosecutor, Christie made a case to voters to not dismiss Trump’s actions.

“What I say to people all the time is whether you agree or disagree with the prosecutors, look at the underlying conduct,” he said before imploring them to wonder if that conduct is “appropriate for someone who wants to be president of the United States.”

However, Christie did concede that he’s not fully onboard with the Stormy Daniels indictment and would not have brought those charges as a prosecutor. But, again, he emphasized that it shows concerning behavior from Trump.

“Do we want someone as president who is willing to pay off a porn star who he had an affair with, two months before a national election to hide it from the people who he’s asking for their vote for president of the United States?” Christie asked. “I think that’s probably conduct that we should be frowning upon.”

(Via Mediaite)

As an innovator, originator, and pioneer of the art of DJing in hip-hop, Kid Capri has been around long enough that he doesn’t need to prove anything. Throughout his several decades in the genre, Capri, who was raised in The Bronx, honed his DJ skills at a young age, eventually mastering other creative outlets like producing and rapping. His quick rise led to him gaining national recognition for being the live DJ on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam for seven years. Capri embodies the elements of hip-hop because he lives and breathes the culture, becoming the blueprint for longevity and building a successful brand in entertainment.

As far as introducing techniques, Kid Capri was an early adopter of extending the record, bringing the record back, and teasing the records to crowds. Capri backs his contributions to DJing with more examples. “Playing the records from different parts than what would normally be played from, playing the record 15 times back-to-back like I did with ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,’” Capri says. “That’s how DJs started doing that on the radio. Playing records fast, putting it on, taking it off in the fourth bar. All these different things you see DJs do right now: Kid Capri.”

The proof of his icon status was seen at this year’s BET Awards, where he curated a celebration of the 50 Years of Hip-Hop through musical medleys across all generations and pulled it off in a way only he could’ve done. 2023 continues to be an active year for Kid Capri as he’s featured on Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium on August 11 for the Bronx Bombers set with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Fat Joe. He’s also back in the studio working on his next album More Love as well as appearing on tracks by Daz Dillinger and Lil Eazy E (“Ridin”), Ron Browz (“Stay With Me”), 5ive Mics (“I’m a Rap Star Remix”), Dave East (“Come 2 Far”), and an unreleased Black Rob collab from Life Story 2, produced by Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie.

Kid Capri remains a household name because he’s always on the road, giving fans plenty of dates to catch him behind the 1s and 2s live. You can hear him on Kid Capri’s Block Party on Sirius XM Fly on the weekends, bringing throwbacks with new tracks that end with a special Block Party mix. His status has been built off being a Grammy winner, producing for Jay-Z, Heavy D, Madonna, 50 Cent, and more. He’s been the touring DJ for Diddy, Aaliyah, Salt-N-Pepa, and Timbaland. Kendrick Lamar once reached out to feature him on his Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. All of this to say that Kid Capri’s career knows no bounds, a constant force within hip-hop’s 50 years who remains humble and thankful to still be here.

Let’s put a number on this now. How long have you been doing this?

Since I was eight years old. I’ve been known for 35 years.

I ask because on your album The Tape, you have this song called “Don’t Sweat Me” where you saw you’re the hardest working man in hip-hop. After all these years, you’re still living up to that.

Absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Why haven’t you slowed down? What keeps you motivated?

I genuinely love what I do. I know that me being a DJ in this business was always an uphill battle. They always look at DJs as the bottom of the totem pole, except when hip-hop first started. DJs were the front guy; records came in, and the rapper had to be the front guy. They pushed the DJs to the back. So that’s when I became my own one-man band and didn’t need anybody in front of me. I could do every myself and I just needed the world to see it. And fortunately enough by the grace of God, a TV show called Def Comedy Jam fell on my lap so I could show the world that and I just took it from there. That’s where all the DJs followed, they followed what I did, speaking on the mic the way I do and everything I do. And it just created a whole new thing. That’s just one of the things I did. But it all comes from me, staying focused on it and knowing exactly what I want, and also being a fan as well as the deliverer.

With The Love, you wrote, produced, and rapped on it. Why do you not want to be put in a box?

This is the reason why I don’t have “DJ” on my name. When you see “Kid Capri,” you see Kid Capri. You don’t see “DJ Kid Capri.” The reason why is it puts you in a box. It makes people think that’s all that you do. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re a person with many talents, why would you be put in a box? Look at 50 Cent, he’s not just a rapper. He’s a director, he’s a producer, he owns a clothing company. He’s got things going on. He’s not just one thing. When we get into this music business, we do what we do to bring everything else to what we do. If you are a person that wants to open a restaurant, do you not want to open a restaurant because you’re a DJ or bass player or a drummer or a singer? No! You shouldn’t be stuck in no box and nobody should tell you to stay in a box. The sky is not the limit it is just the first stop.

When we think of Kid Capri, we think of your contributions to mixtape culture. A lot of people credit you for making a profit off your mixtapes. When did you realize that you could make money off them?

Well, I was doing that when I was in the SNS Club with Starchild. We was doing some tapes, and people would come and buy them right there. When it became something different was when I decided to sit on the street corner and sell my tapes. First of all, the $20 me and Starchild was making, we would have to split. Now I’m by myself, that whole $20 is coming to me. People were walking up, ‘why would I buy a tape for $20?’ Listen to my tape in the beginning, you’re going to buy everything I have. Because that’s how I made it. I made it so people were there while I was making it. When you heard it in your car, you felt you was a part of it and it felt like you was at a party even though most of the tapes that was made was in my hallway. But you felt you was in a club somewhere. The things I would say and the music I would play that other people wasn’t knowing about. Just the way I did things, it became so infectious around the world that it just stuck.

My generation would say DJ Drama is the person we look up to as a pioneer in the mixtape game. What about the other pioneers in your class? What have they done to influence it?

I don’t know what everybody else is doing, you know what I’m saying? I just stick to what I’m doing. I will say this: DJ Drama has done tremendously great picking up the torch and moving in the direction he moved. Because when I stopped making the tapes, I didn’t stop because I fell off. I stopped because I was the Michael Jordan of making the tapes. I just stopped because they said I was making all this money for making these illegal street tapes. So I said, ‘You know what? I made a name already. Let me take my career and go a different way.’ I just left at the top of my game. The last tape was the Doo Wop diss. I was on fire and I just left. I started television, I started all the other things and took my career to a more serious direction. Ater that, Clue, Drama, and everybody else came in and took the torch and did what they did. But had I kept going, there would still be a Drama, Clue, and everybody but I still would’ve been one of them dudes at the top.

You’re known for allowing DJs to be viewed as artists. Can you elaborate on how you did that? You’ve talked about this before if you’re on stage killing it for two hours, you need to be paid the same way as an artist.

Why should the DJ get treated any different? Why isn’t the DJ on the front cover of a magazine? Now it is, but all these years I had to fight for it, I would have to say no to a lot of things that people was giving to me because they thought I needed it. No. I’m not doing this, I’m not doing that. I had to stay at a certain level to let people know how serious it is and how we got to be looked at. You’re not going to look at me as someone just playing records. I’ma bust whoever’s ass that got the big platinum record. I’ma make it hard for him on that stage in this arena. So you’re gonna give me the same type of respect. You’re gonna pay me the same kind of way. You might not pay me the same as the platinum dude, but you’re going to pay me respectfully the way I’m supposed to. I don’t want no more than what I’m worth. I want what I’m worth, no more no less. So if you can’t give me that, then you don’t respect what I’m doing. What’s any difference between me playing turntables and Stevie Wonder playing the piano?

Right.

What’s the difference? It’s a talent. It’s something I am doing. So you’re going to look at the DJs as less then because they’re playing records? It’s the way we play them. It’s what we do that make people feel the way they do. Why shouldn’t we be respected? Why on the flyer on some of these festivals, they are at the bottom of the flyer? Why? You won’t see me at no bottom of no flyer! I rather not take the show. I rather you keep your show before you not respect my position. Very known thing, I was supposed to do the TLC tour with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. But the promoters thought I was less than. They had TLC real big as they should be, they had Bone Thugs medium, and they had Kid Capri real small. So I said, ‘Ok, end the tour.’ And I deaded the whole tour because of a flyer. I had to take those types of stands in order for people to take it serious. If I gotta take from myself to say no for people to take it serious, then I’ll deprive myself just to make sure I make my statement.

You’ve been immortalized in many songs like Biggie’s “Juicy,” worked with Big L on “Put It On.” What do those shouts out mean to you?

Well, I’ll tell you this. I’ve been shouted on many, many songs. The one Biggie shouted me out on. The one Greg Nice shouted me out on. The one Parrish from EPMD shouted me out on, “Crossover.” All of those are hit records, but there’s a lot of records that I’ve been shouted out on that wasn’t hit records. To be shouted out on all those records and did all these records, produced for Heavy D’s “Nuttin’ But Love” and wrote half of it. I produced for Madonna. I did Jay-Z’s “It’s Like That.” All these different records I did, “Rowdy Rowdy” with 50 Cent. To get a call from Kendrick Lamar in 2017 to be on his album and narrate his album, that shows right there the growth of everything I’ve done. I ain’t have to say nothing else. When me and him were in the studio, I asked him ‘why didn’t you get Battlecat and Pooh? Two West Coast legends to be on the album?’ He’s like, ‘Nah, love those dudes. Those are my dudes but I know what you did for the music business. I know what you did for the DJ. I know what you did authentically and that’s what I want on my album.’ So this young dude knew the story. I didn’t have to tell him, he knew what it was. He put me on this album that put me in countries that I never been to before. He put my voice in countries I never been to before, so he brought me to a whole new generation of people that might not even heard of a Kid Capri or don’t know what Kid Capri is about, or haven’t had the Kid Capri experience. He brought me to those people. I wish we could’ve did a lot more like concerts and tours. He didn’t need me, of course. But if we would have been together, it would have been insane. Because I’m on the only hip-hop, Pulitzer Award-winning album, a milestone was made when we did that. So I’m grateful for that.

This is a loaded question: what made you fall in love with hip-hop?

The same reason everybody else do. You can’t help it. It is entertaining. I would not want to be born in the ’50s, ’40s, and the ’30s. I was born at the right time where I came right in the middle of the meat of everything. Everything dope. I’m in that. My dad’s a soul singer. My grandfather played trumpet for all the big guys. It’s always been there. So it was inevitable for me to do [music]. I grew up with it and I gave my whole life to it. When somebody is like really dedicated without even knowing they are dedicated, you can’t beat them. You can’t never outdo them. You can’t outwork them because they’re dedicated without even thought.

You’re always wanting to create opportunities for other people. Not a lot of people in this industry want to do that, to bring the next generation up.

Well because some people get stuck in an old-school way of thinking. They don’t want it to go nowhere, they don’t want the shine off of them. They think if the younger man comes in, he’s going to take away from you. No. There’s only one Kid Capri. You can have a million people try to be Kid Capri, but there’s only one Kid Capri. There’s only one Jay-Z. There’s only one Busta Rhymes. There’s only one Nas. There’s only one Eminem. That’s it. So, that’s you, forever. Nobody can take that away.

Offset and Cardi B‘s collaborative song “Jealousy” is out now after lots of drama. Fans assumed Offset accused Cardi of cheating back in June when he wrote on his Instagram Story, “My wife f*cked a N**** on me gang yall n****s know how I come.” Cardi denied it on a Twitter Space: “First of all, let me say… first of all, let me say, you can’t accuse me of all the things you know that you are guilty of.”

On social media, fans are contemplating the truth about the tiff in light of the new song. A fan commented on Instagram, “We said it was a stunt they pulled with their relationship and that’s exactly what is was. Lmfaoo.” Cardi replied by saying, “Tasha K made some ish up and yall was laughing about it and happy ass hell about it. Now that we putting it in the music is a stunt … Naaa baby be mad at the one who started trolling wit it.”

When screenshots were posted to Twitter, Cardi added, “Exactly !!!THEY COOCHIE WAS SO WET WHEN THE LIE WAS GOING AROUND NOW it’s a different narrative when we put it in the music ….OOOO IM POPPIN IT ON THIS SONG !!!!”

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

Last week, graphic designer @kyaxcheeks made a very funny meme. On July 21 (the day Oppenheimer and Barbie made their theatrical debuts in the US), she tweeted, “If it was ’09, I know @gucci1017 would’ve dropped the tape today. #Oppenheimer.” The tweet included fake cover art for a Gucci Mane single called “Woppenheimer,” a song that had not been publicly announced at the time. The meme got a lot of attention, including from Gucci himself: Today (July 28), the rapper actually shared a new song called “Woppenheimer” and even used @kyaxcheeks’ mock-up as the single’s cover art.

The final art only had minor tweaks from @kyaxcheeks’ original, like with colors and font choices. The designer revealed she had a positive experience working with Gucci and his team, tweeting, “Shoutout to gucci and his team for taking a chance on me. They have been super dope to me and I’m very appreciative!”

On the track, Gucci reflects on his journey and gives some shout-outs to special people in his life: “Shout out to my wife, she had a daughter and a son for me / Shout out to my brother, down bad, he made that bond for me.”

Gucci also dropped a video for the song today, so check it out above.

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

Birthdays are a glorious occasion, but no one celebrates the anniversary of their birth quite like Saweetie. This year, the rapper headed to Las Vegas to enjoy Usher’s My Way residency up close and personal but avoiding Kekegate. However, the Icy Girl’s festivities are far from over. On her new single, “Birthday,” the musician teamed up with upcoming tour mates Tyga and YG for one more blowout extravaganza.

Saweetie can have her cake or, apparently, be one too. In the visual, the musician dripped with jewels embodied the purpose of a birthday candle. Not only is she every guy’s wish (but only her rumored boo YG can have), but Saweetie is a bright flame you can’t take your eyes off. On her special day, the musician is a spoiled brat and doesn’t mind showing it, as she rapped, “It’s my birthday b*tch these my birthday rules / I aint spendin nothing all the drinks on you / I hope that aint your n**** cause he tryna get loose / See me coming through and a b*tch better move.”

For the month of July, it’s Saweetie’s world, and we’re just living in it.

Watch the video for “Birthday” above.

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

Ron DeSantis continued to take a wrecking (meat)ball to his campaign on Thursday night as the Florida governor sugar-shamed a small child for sipping on an Icee.

The now-viral moment went down at the Wayne County fairgrounds in Iowa where DeSantis once again demonstrated that he’s awful at mingling with the general public. After spotting the child, DeSantis asked what they were enjoying. When the child said an Icee, DeSantis responded “That’s a lot of sugar, huh?” before robotically saying, “Good to see ya” and walking away.

Here’s a clip from NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez:

It’s yet another blunder for DeSantis in the key primary state where members of his own party have already hit him with a cease and desist letter for bussing in supporters from other states to mask the lack of enthusiasm for his campaign.

“He is the first presidential candidate that is going out and buying and paying for representation … he’s not building a grassroots organization,” Muscatine GOP Chair Daniel Freeman wrote in the letter. “And it could very well be that he uses Never Back Down because he can’t garner state support from individual residents in Iowa. Therein lies the problem. He is misleading the public of Iowa by sending busloads of people to a parade and they don’t even live in the area and in fact, most of them don’t even live in the state of Iowa.”

Now, DeSantis is out here shaming children for eating frozen treats during a summer plagued by heatwaves. The reactions on social media have been brutal as people can’t believe how terrible DeSantis is at retail politics.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Gabe Gutierrez on Twitter)

Vladimir Putin’s been attempting to rustle up some friends/allies after essentially making himself a global pariah by invading Ukraine. Even within Russia, elites are hesitant to align themselves with the president/autocrat for fear of eventually being accused of war crimes, and perhaps even worse to Putin, his former strongman image has fallen into tatters with word that he just kinda sat there and silently freaked out as the Wagner mutiny unfolded.

Putin wants to present the image of making nice, it seems, which is why he decided to generously offer grain — to which there were no takers — like a “benevolent overlord” for those countries who were in attendance for the recent “Russia-Africa” summit. Mind you, only 17 out of 54 current African nation heads of state even bothered coming to the event.

However, Putin does have a relatively powerful ally in his corner, but it’s not an ally that most countries would covet. Then again, it’s not totally surprising, since Putin was reported to be scooping up rockets from dictator Kim Jong Un, but Putin put a ring on it with a from-afar speech during the North Korean celebration of Victory Day in the North:

North Korea’s “firm support” for Russia’s war in Ukraine emboldens the two countries’ determination to cope with Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech to North Korean officials on Thursday, according to a report in North Korean state media.

Putin did not go into detail of the nature of Pyongyang’s support in what he called Russia’s “special military operation.” But US officials said last year that North Korea was selling millions of rockets and artillery shells to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Well, the two leaders do share an apparent hatred for the Western world, and the Victory Day event apparently included a parade of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which is quite something. And Putin is probably jealous as well, since his recent Victory Day parades were largely cancelled other than one lonely tank in attendance. Putin recently (and finally) admitted that Russia is making a poor showing in Ukraine, but Putin he also threatened to be shipping ICBMs with nukes to Belarus, and if that’s true, he may have found a willing supplier.

(Via CNN)

On June 24, Madonna developed a bacterial infection that landed her in the intensive care unit. She postponed her Celebration Tour, but only days later she was spotted out with a friend in New York City’s Upper East Side.

The pop star has shared an update on her health Friday (June 28). On Instagram, she posted a clip of her swinging her hips, clad in futuristic shades and a black outfit. “To be able to move my body and dance just a little bit makes me feel like the Luckiest Star in the world!” she wrote in the caption. “Thank you to all of my fans and friends! You must be my lucky stars too! And Happy 40th Birthday to my very. First Album- [star emojis].”

It was reported on June 28 that she had been hospitalized. “On Saturday June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which lead to a several day stay in the ICU,” the statement on manager Guy Oseary’s Instagram read. “Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected. At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour. We will share more details with you soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.”

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

The less we know about the personal lives of politicians, the better — especially when it comes to sex. GOP Representative Nancy Mace broke this unwritten rule on Thursday when she confessed that she turned down sex with her partner to make it to a prayer breakfast on time.

“When I woke up this morning at 7, I was getting picked up at 7:45. Patrick, my fiancé, tried to pull me by my waist over this morning in bed and I was like, ‘No, baby, we don’t got time for that this morning. I got to get to the prayer breakfast and I got to be on time,’” she said, adding that it may have “been a little TMI, but he can wait, he’s got — I’ll see him later tonight.”

Following her viral remarks, the South Carolina lawmaker appeared on Hannity, where host Sean Hannity broke up her “TMI” confession in the most awkward way possible. “Much later tonight, because she’s on this show,” Hannity said as an introduction. “Anyway, Congresswoman Mace joins us. Uh, congresswoman, great to have you.” He later added, “Uh, I guess you’ll get home some time around midnight tonight, so, um, I thought it was pretty funny at a prayer breakfast. Good for you for having a great sense of humor.”

It was the funniest joke at a prayer breakfast since the time Mitt Romney said “I’ll have what she’s having” when he saw someone eating a hot dog at 8 a.m.:

At the end of the interview, Hannity made yet another reference to the incident, concluding, “Congresswoman, we appreciate you coming to this show instead of going home to your fiancé. We really appreciate it.”

You can watch the uncomfortable interaction here.

(Via Mediaite)

As AI makes daily headlines (and robots take over), I’ve been thinking more about the future of human work and the value of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship, the human trait that enables us to care for and love the work we produce, especially in the built environment.

Even as we make advancements and increase efficiencies in technology, the built world desperately needs more people who care about craft and want to work with their hands.

In construction specifically, the demand for housing—especially affordable housing—and safer roads and bridges is only increasing. And over 40% of skilled workers will retire in the next 10 years. We need new craftspeople more than ever. And, fast.
That’s why we started MT Copeland: to capture the craftsmanship seen in the built world around us (our homes, our workplaces, our cities), and help anyone learn directly from experienced professionals. We help craftspeople teach the skills they use on the job every day, and inspire others to make a career move into skilled careers. Carpenters, entrepreneurs building homes, painters, and even first-time homeowners can now use methods from generations past to make projects better.

The attention to detail in drywall, painting, or cabinet making requires a unique combination of technical prowess, problem-solving abilities, and an artistic eye. It’s the kind of work made only possible by human touch. Just when it starts to feel like everything’s destined to be automated, remember: some things simply must be made by human hands.

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For a long time in America, the cultural perception of skilled workers has been that they’re working “worse jobs” than people in offices. But, the average plumber makes over $60,000 a year. Experienced plumbers double that. And if you want to own your own plumbing company, the sky’s the limit.

A skill like plumbing can be taught (and without an advanced degree! Or college debt!) but we need to pass down both the knowledge, and the spirit of excellence. That’s what we’re excited to be working on at MT Copeland: helping our next generation continue to build something real.

To try MT Copeland, visit www.mtcopeland.com.