Month: April 2024

GloRilla was busy online promoting “Wanna Be” featuring Megan Thee Stallion on Wednesday, April 17, so nothing seems amiss. However, according to TMZ, GloRilla was “arrested and booked […] on suspicion of driving under the influence, consuming and possessing an open alcoholic beverage container, and a separate traffic charge” in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

TMZ obtained the police report, which details that the platinum-certified rapper born Gloria Woods was taken to jail at 6:12 a.m. on Tuesday morning, April 16, but “bonded out a few hours later.” GloRilla suffered “a wardrobe malfunction.” When police wanted GloRilla to submit to a breathalyzer, which GloRilla reportedly “refused,” her “breast slipped out from under her clothes.”

GloRilla had initially been pulled over by police around 4 a.m. EST because she was spotted “making a U-turn at a solid red traffic light.” The reporting police officer claimed GloRilla’s car smelled of alcohol and marijuana, and while GloRilla allegedly admitted that she had been drinking earlier in the evening, “she wouldn’t say how much she’d consumed and insisted she was good to drive.”

The police report states that a field sobriety test was administered, including “the eye-follow test, the walk-and-turn, one-leg balance,” and asking GloRilla to walk in a straight line. As per TMZ, “the cops claim she bombed” most of these sobriety tests and especially struggled with “staying on her feet.”

As of this writing, GloRilla has not publicly commented on this matter.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Philadelphia 76ers are heading to the NBA playoffs. While it wasn’t the prettiest win in franchise history, Philadelphia played host to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night and overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half to pick up a 105-104 win in the 7-8 game of the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament. Now, the Sixers will enter the postseason as the 7-seed, while the Heat still need to get their future all sorted out.

The story of the first half was Philly’s inability to figure out Miami’s zone. The Heat decided to play a 2-3 that totally flummoxed the Sixers, even as Bam Adebayo only played 12 first half minutes due to early foul trouble and Jimmy Butler dealt with a knee injury.

For whatever reason, Philly just had zero answer for this wrinkle. They went into the locker room down 51-39, and shot 14-for-42 (33.3 percent) from the field and 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) from three, all while turning the ball over 11 times. While Miami’s offense wasn’t especially great either — 18-for-42 (42.9 percent) from the field and 6-for-20 (30 percent) from three — any time they were able to set up their defense, Philly found itself helpless.

And then, midway through the third quarter, the Sixers showed some life because of some chicken. In the immediate aftermath of Caleb Martin missing back-to-back free throws to give the fans free food, Philly ripped off an 8-0 run to go from down by double-digits to back within three.

For the rest of the frame and into the start of the fourth, Miami always seemed to have an answer — a big make to extend their lead to two possessions, a timely stop, etc. — that kept Philly from taking the lead. Even when the Sixers eventually tied it up, they just could not get over the hump.

But with just under nine minutes left in the fourth, the breakthrough came when Joel Embiid found Nic Batum — who was nothing short of brilliant on both ends of the floor — out on the wing for a wide open triple.

In classic Heat fashion, though, they refused to go away. A Jaime Jaquez dunk with about five and a half minutes to go put them back ahead, and the Sixers once again struggled to wrest the lead away from them. Even when Embiid hit a three to put Philly ahead, Tyler Herro came back down and knocked down a triple of his own.

Things were tied entering the game’s final minute, when the Sixers were able to force a backcourt violation due to Batum’s pressure on Herro. And on the ensuing possession, Philadelphia went ahead with 36 seconds remaining when Embiid found Kelly Oubre for a layup, a foul, and an and-one.

Miami came back down and went for the tie, getting the ball into the hands of Herro and giving him a green light to pull up. But once again, Batum came up big, as he caught up to the Heat guard and blocked his attempt from deep.

Despite Miami’s best efforts, the team just ran out of time, and Philly was able to defend its homecourt. Embiid’s 23-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist night led the way, while Batum’s performance off the bench made headline, as the veteran swingman had 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from three and five boards off the bench. For Miami, Herro led the team 25 points and nine assists.

The win means that Philadelphia secured the 7-seed in the Western Conference, which means they’re headed to Madison Square Garden to take on the 2-seed New York Knicks. Game 1 of their series is slated to tip at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday afternoon. Miami, meanwhile, will play either Atlanta or Chicago in the final Play-In Tournament game with the hopes of earning the 8-seed and a matchup with the Boston Celtics.

It was an ordinary Wednesday night (April 17) until Lil Nas X decided to finally drop “Lean On My Body,” which might sound familiar to his most ardent fans and followers. On March 17, 2022, Lil Nas X posted a video appearing to casually walk on a treadmill while rapping bars from “Lean On My Body.” He resurfaced the post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “I know I’m 10 years late but I’m dropping lean on my body in a couple minutes.”

As promised, “Lean On My Body” arrived on SoundCloud and YouTube shortly thereafter. Lil Nas X additionally promised that Nasarati 2, his forthcoming project, is indeed “OTW.”

When someone on X named Mya posted, “These songs are literally hits it’s insane he’s not putting them on all streaming platforms,” Lil Nas X replied, “I just want y’all to enjoy the music for now. We gone get to that!”

Produced by Take A Daytrip and Jasper Harris, “Lean On My Body” finds Lil Nas X as confident as ever. The two-time Grammy winner brags about “doin’ real sh*t” and his nephew “sittin’ in the class with a broken knuckle / He had to beat a n**** ass for talkin’ ’bout his uncle.” The bars are just as relentless in the second verse, where Lil Nas X raps, “Polar bear body, Nasarati’s got his next one / My next move always gon’ be better than your best one / You b*tches couldn’t even see Lil Nas-y in a warmup, a tryout, a test run / Anyways, I’m back like a vertebrae / I can drop a sex tape and win a VMA.” His range.

So far this year, Lil Nas X has dropped “J Christ,” “Light Again,” and “Right There.” However, “J Christ” was the only traditionally released single, and it fittingly debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Listen to “Lean On My Body” above.

It wouldn’t be a Taylor Swift album release week without cryptic clues and long-planned immersive experiences. Throughout this week, Spotify has hosted The Tortured Poets Department pop-up activations, including a Spotify library installation at The Grove in Los Angeles. Simultaneously, Spotify has set up a Countdown Page ahead of The Tortured Poets Department‘s arrival on Friday, April 19.

How To Use Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department Spotify Countdown Page

Upon searching for Taylor Swift on the Spotify app, you will be prompted to visit Taylor Swift’s Spotify Countdown page, which allows fans to pre-save The Tortured Poets Department and see a tracklist preview. Additionally, the Countdown page is home to exclusive clips showing Swift typing presumed lyrics on a typewriter, such as “As she was leaving, it felt like breathing,” “One less temptress; one less dagger to sharpen,” and “Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?” Pre-saving the album on Spotify’s Countdown Page guarantees that The Tortured Poets Department will automatically be downloaded to your library on Friday, April 19.

According to Spotify, the first exclusive clip on Swift’s Countdown Page became the most-watched Countdown clip in Spotify history.

The Tortured Poets Department is out 4/19 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

For a while, Quentin Tarantino has repeatedly made it known that he plans to retire from filmmaking after his 10th feature film, which will be his next film. This subject has been a headline-generator for years, including Tarantino seemingly flip-flopping on what to make as his 10th and final film. Not many people can relate to being a generational filmmaker, but almost everybody can relate to having commitment issues. And Tarantino is reportedly no longer committed to making The Movie Critic and “is going back to the drawing board to figure out what the final [film] will be,” according to Deadline.

On Wednesday, April 17, Deadline exclusively reported that “Tarantino has dropped the film as his 10th and final project. He simply changed his mind.”

Deadline also reported the following details:

“Tarantino was going to have Brad Pitt as the principal star, which would have marked their third teaming after Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There were rumors that many from the casts of his past films might take part, and Sony was preparing to make the film after doing such a superb job on the last one.

Word is that Tarantino had rewritten his script, which delayed the start of production. But this is his 10th and final film, and Tarantino simply decided The Movie Critic will not be it.”

Tarantino last directed, produced, and wrote Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which arrived in 2019. The movie co-starred Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio and earned 10 Oscar nominations — winning Best Supporting Actor (Pitt) and Best Achievement In Production Design.

Kendrick Perkins decided to engage in a little cross-network smack talk the other day when he called out Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal of TNT. During an appearance on The Michael Kay Show, Perkins was asked why the Hall of Fame inductees and longtime television commentators don’t believe in the Knicks, and said that the pair “don’t watch basketball” and “can’t watch basketball on a consistent basis.”

This, unsurprisingly, did not go over especially well with the two Inside the NBA stars. At the end of Tuesday night’s broadcast, a tweet got both of them going on Perkins, with Shaq saying multiple times that he watched an old game where Blake Griffin dunked on the former Oklahoma City Thunder big man.

“We don’t watch the Knicks games, Chuck, but I watched that game,” Shaq said.

“We out here killing roaches,” Barkley responded. “I ain’t gonna even give no love to no guy that averaged five points a game. Five points a game gonna call me out?”

If anything, the surprise here is that it took until the end of the night for the pair to start making jokes at Perk’s expense. Anyway, here’s hoping Stephen A. Smith gets pulled into the middle of this.

Pearl Jam has been rolling out Dark Matter since February. Dark Matter will be released on Friday, April 19, but Uproxx’s Steven Hyden has already decided that this album is “their best in decades.” Hyden also specifically lauded “Wreckage” among the album’s “best tunes” that “often sound like homages to their favorite artists” and “will be welcome debuts on any future Pearl Jam setlist.”

On Wednesday, April 17, Pearl Jam released “Wreckage” for all to hear so you can decide whether you love it as much as Hyden. Eddie Vedder sings about “coming through the wreckage” in the chorus and zones in on introspection with lines like, “Visited by thought / And not just in the night / That I no longer give a f*ck who is wrong and who’s right.”

“That one probably has the biggest build for me personally, in terms of hearing it at first and thinking, it’s kind of an Ed song. I wasn’t quite aware of its potency until later,” Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “Andrew [Watt] encouraged me to play this little harmonic, acoustic part almost like a Cure melody. I’ve been playing along with the song to relearn it, and I’m really looking forward to playing it live. It’s a really powerful lyric, and I think we did a really great job of taking something and really pushing it to its limit.”

Pearl Jam will support Dark Matter with their previously announced 2024 tour, which is scheduled to begin on May 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Listen to “Wreckage” above.

Dark Matter is out 4/19 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

Earlier this month, Anitta announced her tour, billed as Baile Funk Experience, including her first-ever North American leg. The tour is due to begin in Mexico City, Mexico on May 18, which is soon. Anitta’s new album is arriving even sooner.

On Wednesday, April 17, Anitta, Spotify Brasil, and Spotify Mexico collaboratively shared an Instagram post revealing Anitta’s Funk Generation cover art. Anitta had already confirmed the album’s release date as April 26 when she released “Double Team” featuring Brray and Bad Gyal on March 21.

“Funk Generation is an album where I celebrate my roots,” Anitta said in a statement upon releasing “Double Team” in late March. “It’s where I express the power of Rio’s funk in every track, its unique, danceable, and sensual beats. It’s a rhythm born in the favelas, where I grew up, and it exudes resistance and art in every community. I’m proud to work on a project about a genre that has been unfairly stigmatized in Brazil but is slowly gaining recognition worldwide. In the album, I bring in important collaborations that helped me tell this story. I’ve been involved in every step of the production and visual direction, and I’ve achieved the result I’ve been aiming for.”

Anitta also previously released “Mil Veces” last October.

Funk Generation is out 4/26 via Floresta Records Inc./Republic Records. Find more information here.

Caitlin Clark’s arrival in the WNBA as the top pick of the Indiana Fever is a major moment for the league. Where Clark goes, attention follows, as she has transcended sports into being a well-known figure in popular culture beyond just basketball fans.

For the Fever and the WNBA, it’s incumbent on them to capitalize on that attention and make sure the league’s product can shine and get the attention it deserves. However, the attention also means a lot more people coming in looking for access and it will also be important for the league and team to help Clark handle the pitfalls of that level of fame.

Part of that is who to provide access to, and being both proactive and reactive to folks that prove they can’t behave properly. In Clark’s introductory press conference on Wednesday, she had to deal with a very uncomfortable moment with Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star, in which he did her “heart hands” sign to her before asking a question, and suggested she do it to him.

I can’t even fathom what the thought process was that went into starting this interaction from a reporter’s point of view — doing a hand gesture you’ve seen someone do but don’t quite understand is questionable at best. Then to roll into “start doing it to me and we’ll be just fine” makes it go from awkward to flat out creepy.

Clark will have to deal with a lot as one of the new faces of the league. Every quote will get dissected and her body language on the court picked apart and analyzed. Poor performances will be shredded while great ones will be lauded. All of that comes with being an elite athlete and a person of immense interest in the public eye.

However, what she should never have to deal with is situations like this. It’s the job of reporters to be professional and for grown men in general not to be weird to young women. The intent of the interaction is inconsequential, as what matters is what happens and how it’s received. This clip going viral is hopefully a good thing, because folks need to understand that this sort of thing isn’t acceptable in 2024.

The Netflix global Top 10 TV show list currently lists 3 Body Problem (from the Game of Thrones showrunners) as the reigning show on the streaming service, but do not sleep on number two. That spot would belong to Unlocked: A Jail Experiment, which might sound like (from the title alone) a depressing endeavor, considering that it’s a reality TV series that follows incarcerated individuals behind (and in front of) bars.

However, the show has struck a chord not only from an entertainment perspective but also a sociological note. The first season contains eight episodes, in which an Arkansas law enforcement leader decides to open all cell doors (other than during sleep-associated hours) and see what transpires. What does follow suggests that rehabilitation can be a viable outcome, since the inmates came together to build a sense of community. Obviously, this would not be the outcome in all jails, but the question remains…

Will There Be An ‘Unlocked: A Jail Experiment’ Season 2?

Netflix would likely be open to continuing the series (if the streaming views stay high) and hasn’t commented otherwise, but there might be a legal hangup involved with doing more. As the local Fox affiliate and Forbes have revealed, officials have concerns and want Sheriff Jeff Higgins to provide answers:

Justice of the Peace Phil Stowers, District 13, said there are concerns that this is a bad look for the county, but the ordinance will affect how they move forward legally, the news site reported. “It’s not a question as to whether or not the sheriff has the ability to try something out of the box, something new in the jail,” Stowers said, per Fox 16. “The questions and concerns are why did that have to turn into a reality TV show?”

In other words, a second season is totally up in the air, yet for now, the first eight-episode season of Unlocked: A Jail Experiment is available on Netflix. And if you would like some true crime viewing recommendations, we’ve got those, too.