Month: March 2024

Tierra Whack is just a few days away from treating fans to her anticipated debut studio album called World Wide Whack. “I really took my time with this, so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do,” she wrote on Instagram as part of the announcement.

Over the past few months, Whack has put out a few songs to build excitement — and she might have even more things planned.

Here’s everything to know ahead of the album’s release.

Release Date

World Wide Whack is out 3/15 via Interscope. Find more information here.

Tracklist

1. “Mood Swing”
2. “Ms Behave”
3. “Chanel Pit”
4. “Numb”
5. “Burning Brains”
6. “Accessible”
7. “Imaginary Friends”
8. “X”
9. “Moovies”
10. “Difficult”
11. “Shower Song”
12. “Invitation”
13. “Snake Eye”
14. “Two Night”
15. “27 Club”

Singles

So far, Whack has released “Chanel Pit,” “Shower Song,” and most recently, “27 Club,” as singles from World Wide Whack.

Features

As of right now, there are no features on Tierra Whack’s album. This doesn’t rule out any potential ones that could happen as a remix, but nothing has been announced yet, so it is a maybe at the moment.

Artwork

Check out the cover art for World Wide Whack below.

Tour

Whack has not yet announced a tour tied to World Wide Whack, so it still could be a possibility. She is only playing one show currently, which will take place this Friday, March 15 at Webster Hall in New York City — seemingly as the album’s release show.

Veteran West Coast rapper Lichelle Marie Laws, better known as ’90s pioneer Boss, has reportedly died at the age of 54. According to multiple peers via Instagram, including Bun B, DJ Premier, and Warren G, news of the vet rapper’s passing came on Monday (March 11).

Although Boss was the first female rapper signed to the short-lived Def Jam West division of the groundbreaking label, she was originally born in Detroit. She relocated to Los Angeles after graduating high school, recording early work with DJ Quik and AMG. That work caught the attention of Russell Simmons, who signed her to the then-new West Coast division of Def Jam.

Her first and only album on the label, Born Gangstaz, released on May 25, 1993, and debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200. It debuted at No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and produced two singles: “Deeper” and “Recipe Of A Hoe.” Its ironic content made light of Boss’ middle-class upbringing with the unrelenting gangsta rap themes popular at the time in a commentary on the twisted expectations and stereotypes placed on rappers (and Black folks as a whole) in the early ’90s.

She eventually left Def Jam after the label rejected demos for a follow-up and became a radio DJ. She released two self-funded mixtapes in the 2000s. However, from 1999 on, she suffered from renal disease; in 2021, a GoFundMe created to raise $15,000 for a needed procedure was able to reach its goal only after it was publicized by NME.

Rappers, it’s time to start a union.

Women’s History Month has been one for the books so far. However, just as some women have been praised, others have been the subject of vicious attacks online. Sadly, TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney falls in the latter category. To commemorate International Women’s Day (on March 8), the former Budweiser campaign star uploaded an image of herself and Lady Gaga.

While Mulvaney’s followers basked in the moment, others accused her of rage-baiting. As a transgender woman, users argued that Mulvaney had no right to celebrate the day. The comment section exploded with vile remarks, eventually leading Mulvaney to no longer allow users on the platform to post. After getting wind of the attacks, on May 11, Lady Gaga took to her Instagram page to slam the anti-trans remarks and come to the defense of her friend.

“It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred,” she wrote. “When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it ‘backlash,’ I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence. ‘Backlash’ would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred.”

The “Born This Way” singer went to display her advocacy for transgender rights. “But it is not surprising given the immense work that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us,” she wrote. “I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence.”

Online can be the Wild West for users navigating bullying, but Lady Gaga isn’t here for any of the madness.

After hosting the Oscars on Sunday evening, Jimmy Kimmel was right back to work the next day where he recapped the star-studded event for his Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience.

During his Monday monologue, Kimmel couldn’t resist commenting on the now-viral moment where he roasted Donald Trump in real time after the former president ranted about the Academy Awards on Truth Social.

“We had John Cena onstage naked, and somehow Trump still managed to be the biggest dick of the night,” Kimmel said.

Despite being warned by the Oscars producers to not mention Trump or engage with his rant, Kimmel did it anyway and delivered one of the most memorable moments when he quipped, “Isn’t it past your jail time?”

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump wrote and Kimmel later read to the crowd. “His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be. Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous.”

On Monday, Kimmel joked to the crowd that Trump’s message was “also his wedding toast to his son, Eric,” and that “he wrote this because he was upset I didn’t mention him on the show, and no one mentioned him on the show. He wasn’t getting any attention.”

While Trump was the biggest metaphorical d*ck at the Oscars, Kimmel made sure to swing things back to Cena.

“They kept demanding that we make the envelope bigger and bigger, but first of all I have to say congratulations, John Cena,” Kimmel said. “Very rarely does an idea literally push the envelope.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

We’re now a week and change away from Tigers Blood, the latest album from Waxahatchee. Katie Crutchfield still has some promo to do ahead of then, so today, she shared a new single, “365.” The song arrives alongside a one-shot video directed by frequent collaborators Corbett Jones and Nick Simonite.

Crutchfield says of the song:

“‘365’ is a song about codependency as it pertains to addiction and relationships with addicts. It’s something I’ve dealt with a lot in my life and I really wanted to distill the nerves and emotions down to their purest form in this song. Brad Cook and I had a lot of ideas we tried for this one, but in the end, we tracked it live just him, Jake Lenderman and myself running the song a couple of times together in the room.”

In a new interview with Pitchfork, Crutchfield also noted of the thought process behind her new album, “I think my life gets weirder and less relatable the older that I get. So I try to write in a way that’s relatable to anyone with any problem. There’s some universal emotional truth that people can get to the bottom of, even if they don’t understand everything I’m talking about.”

Check out the “365” video above.

Tigers Blood is out 3/22 via Anti-. Find more information here.

John Cena’s Oscar “streak” of a Costume Design presentation had the live audience rolling as he pretended to sweat out how he couldn’t drop or lift the envelope without showing off everything to the world. As it turns out, the real sweating parties were the Standard and Productions executives who feared that some “crack” or “bulge” would slip into the broadcast, which would of course set off a world of legal and financial hurt for ABC.

With that said, Cena wasn’t entirely naked (although Fox News host Brian Kilmeade appreciated the hair removal aspect) because he had some nude fabric affixed to both areas. He was also as much of a Ken doll as Ryan Gosling when it came to reducing the bulge, according to Walt Disney TV alternative head Rob Mills while speaking with Variety:

“I’m going to educate you a little here,” Mills says. “A bulge cannot be showing, and you can’t show crack. It was also, ’What happens if he drops that card?’ So, we made sure that, for all intents and purposes, he looked like a Ken doll up front. His crack was covered in the back and then the envelope was Velcro-ed on there so it wouldn’t fall. But beyond that, he was naked.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live! producer Molly McNearney added that the S&P execs were “sweating,” but eventually, everyone seemed to settle down to where “it didn’t compromise the comedy a bit.” And on Monday night’s late-night broadcast, Kimmel revealed of the lead-up stress, “Somebody was crying.” He then added, “Then once they realized we weren’t going to take no for an answer … there was intense discussion about the the envelope.” From there, S&P wanted to use a “shoebox”-sized envelope rather than what materialized, and Kimmel handed “congratulations” to Cena: “The commotion you caused. Very rarely does an idea literally push the envelope and this one did.”

Yup, that envelope had an important job to do, too.

(Via Variety & Deadline)

Justin Timberlake briefly took over Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue duties during the Monday, March 11 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! — but not everything went to plan.

“I’m going to be your host tonight, Justin Timberlake,” Timberlake started. “Now you all might know me from being… Justin Timberlake.” He began to tell some jokes, including about NSYNC, when Kimmel came out to take back the mic.

“I’m confused, why are you here?” Kimmel asked. “I’m the guest host,” Timberlake answered.

“No, you’re the musical guest, why would I need a guest host?” Kimmel then pointed out in the planned skit, as Timberlake would perform later in the episode.

“Because you were out all night at the Oscar afterparty,” Timberlake replied. “No, not really. I went to one party then I went to bed,” Kimmel said.

A bit after Kimmel reclaimed his lead role on the show, Timberlake came back to perform “No Angels” from his forthcoming album, Everything I Thought It Was. Kimmel announced the pop star’s performance with a loud cheering crowd behind him.

Timberlake matched the groovy song with some red lighting and entertaining backing jazz musicians, including a trumpet player and more.

“Like full throttle, pilot on auto / There ain’t no angels here on the dance floor / Forget tomorrow, more like you wanna play / There ain’t no angels here on the dance floor,” he sang.

Check out Timberlake’s performance of “No Angels” on Kimmel and the opening monologue joke above.

If you’ve been to McDonald’s in the past week you likely noticed the restaurant has been given a slight anime makeover. The take-out bags are now covered in vivid manga drawings, there are posters everywhere promoting something called “WcDonald’s” and now there is a new limited-time-only dipping sauce known as WcDonald’s sauce, complete with Japanese Kanji.

The sauce might have given you pause at the drive-thru window recently — do you stray from your tried and true favorite dipping sauce and try this premium limited sauce, or do you stick with what you know works? This can be a real dilemma considering McDonald’s charges for any additional sauces to the two you receive free with your order. And while extra sauce isn’t exactly breaking the bank (though two is never enough), some people won’t pay for extra sauce just based on principle. So we’re taking the hit for you, rolling up to McDonald’s, and ordering a 10-piece McNugget meal with a side of fries, and a bunch of extra WcDonald’s sauce to answer the question: is WcDonald’s any good?

But first… let’s talk about the anime tie-in and why it’s happening.

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What The Hell Is WcDonald’s?

If you’re an anime fan you may have noticed a McDonald’s-like restaurant appearing with an upside-down “W” logo across several different anime properties. The symbol first appeared in a 1985 episode of the anime Cat’s Eye and has since popped up in anime like City Hunter, Virtua Fighter, Gundam Wing, InuYasha, Detective Conan, Digimon Savers, and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, just to name a very very small few.

That’s over 40 years of anime, all repping a restaurant known as “Wakudonarudo.”

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McDonald’s has decided to embrace Wakudonarudo — renamed WcDonald’s because its easier to say — and has teamed up with legendary anime studio Studio Pierrot (responsible for classics like Urusei Yatsura, Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, and Bleach) for a special WcDonald’s manga series that customers can access by scanning the QR codes on the new manga-inspired packaging, which features artwork by Japanese illustrator Acky Bright.

As a kick-off for the promotion, McDonald’s put together an immersive dining experience in Los Angeles that just wrapped this weekend and recreated WcDonald’s.

Okay, that covers the anime tie-in, let’s talk about why you’re here: the sauce.

WcDonald’s Sauce Review

Tasting Notes & Thoughts

There is an intense sweetness to the WcDonald’s sauce, with a combination of ginger and garlic flavors joined by a light dusting of chili flakes in a heavy soy-based sauce. It’s a bit like thick teriyaki sauce in consistency, but not as delicate and nuanced. It’s got more heat and a stronger emphasis on sweet flavors that McDonald’s stock Sweet and Sour sauce doesn’t deliver.

The heat lives on the backend and never tips into full-on spicy, but it’s a nice amount of heat that even the most spice-obsessed will be able to enjoy. Overall, I think it’s a strong addition to McDonald’s roster of sauces and it’ll be a real shame when this one leaves the menu.

As for what to pair it with I think the McNuggets win this round easily. The sweetness of the sauce and heavy ginger flavor shine best when paired with the neutral flavor of the nugget, allowing the sauce to elevate the dish and deepen the flavors.

McDonald’s fries already have a sort of buttery sweetness to them, and when paired with the sauce I felt the combined flavor was a bit too overwhelming. Make no mistake, it makes for a good fry dip if you like sweet flavors, but if you’re trying to ration sauce, I’d use it on the nuggets before the fries. You’ll get about two nuggets per sauce before you have to open another.

The Bottom Line:

A rich and flavorful sauce that leans sweet and deserves permanent menu status. The sauce tastes best paired with nuggets.

Find your nearest McDonald’s here.

Christopher Nolan collected a reported $72 million paycheck for Oppenheimer, which grossed nearly $1 billion at the box office and won two Oscars, Best Picture and Best Director. What will he do for a follow-up?

We might find out sooner rather than later: according to Puck, Nolan has “already started writing” his next feature. Nolan hasn’t said what his next movie will be, although he has expressed an interest in horror. But he did tell Yahoo! that “part of me wants to leave the story behind… [the] subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic. And, yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak.”

Christopher Nolan should direct Paddington 4. Let Cillian play the villain.

“To the Academy — movies are just a little bit over 100 years old,” Nolan said during his acceptance speech for Best Director at the Oscars. “We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.” He added, “Thank you to those who have believed in me my whole career.”

If you somehow haven’t seen Oppenheimer, you can do so on Peacock.

(Via Puck)

Yesterday (March 11) was a big day for Kanye West: It was revealed that his and Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 1 single “Carnival” is No. 1 on the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart. This makes the song Ye’s first No. 1 hit in 13 years, since his and Katy Perry’s 2011 collaboration “ET.” The achievement has West feeling some kind of way, and that way is vengeful.

In celebration of the feat, West shared his thoughts on Instagram, in which he goes after some of his opponents. He wrote:

“Rich Ty Carti and the supporters that stood by us through everything This number #1 is for you it’s for the people who won’t be manipulated by the system and f*ck adidas and everybody who works there or with them Anyone who goes to school with anyone who’s parents work at adidas Just know they tried to destroy me and here we are with the number 1 song in the world Like the fake dude I saw in the lobby at the Ritz that works at Goat You p*ssys don’t stand for sh*t And f*ck everybody at the Dailey Mail And F*ck everybody at the fashion houses that sided with Gabby and Hailey Bieber F*ck each and every single one of all And f*ck every Christian that watched me have my kids taken out of my control That’s how I feel And it’s f*ck Drake for taking Durk right at the beginning of the Vultures role out I’ll come back to yall if I think of more f*ck you’s.”

As Complex notes, the post has since been edited to read simply, “No caption.”

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.