Month: May 2024

While many people might agree that we don’t need another ultra-realistic CGI rendering of The Lion King because it begins to look less like a story of hope and more like that Idris Elba movie where he gets stalked by a giant lion, if you look beyond that, there is an interesting story here! Even if it is just Hamlet with fuzzy animals.

Disney’s live action version of The Lion King hit theaters in 2019, and while it was more or less the same as the animated version (but with less color contrast), the sequel will go in-depth on the origin story of Mufasa and his pride. The star-studded flick is directed by Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins and also promises new music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, so there will be at least one song stuck in your head after you exit the theater. Here is everything else we know about the upcoming flick.

Plot

Unlike The Lion King 2, or the superior The Lion King 1 1/5, this upcoming installment will act as both a prequel and a (slight) sequel to the 2019 version, telling the story of how the powerful Mufasa went from just a cute lil’ lion cub to the most powerful leader in the animal kingdom.

Of course, we can’t have a fun animal tale (or tail) without some silly commentary from the comic relief, Timon and Pumbaa. Here is the official plot description:

Mufasa: The Lion King enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.

Cast

The cast brings back Donald Glover as Simba, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, and Beyoncé as Nala. Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter will make her film debut as Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala.

The cast also includes Aaron Pierre as Mufasa and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the mysterious Taka who treats the young Mufasa as a brother (OG Lion King fans know how this plays out).

Mufasa: The Lion King also stars Mads Mikkelsen as Kiros, Thandiwe Newton as Taka’s mother, Eshe, and Lennie James as Taka’s father, Obasi.

Release Date

Mufasa: The Lion King hits theaters on December 20th. Don’t lions just scream “holiday season” to you???

Trailer

Disney just dropped the impressive trailer, which is almost too realistic if you have a fear of lions. Check it out below:

Fresh Pair has returned with legendary sonic architect Just Blaze and sneaker-customizer-to-the-GOATs, Katty Customs back in the studio mixing up their sneaker magic for Hip-Hop’s finest. In the chair this time is none other than Harlem rapper and actor Dave East, who took to his custom sneaker like a kid on Christmas.

East is known for his varied career — including a legendary run of mixtapes that is longer than most rapper’s whole careers, all released before his debut album — and impeccable sense of style, so Katty and Just had quite a challenge for themselves going into this one. Luckily, the team knocked it out of the park, gifting East a sneaker inspired by Nike’s game-changing multi-layered “What The Dunk?”

Like the What The Dunk, this custom sneaker features a wild mix of panels and colors, but unlike the original, this one tells the deeply personal story of Dave East. From panel to panel, East’s story unfolds like a comic book, touching on his b-ball origins, fallen friends, and entrepreneurial pursuits. We’ll hold off on divulging too many details here so as to not spoil your watch, but if you’re looking for a teaser here it is: East talks briefly about his project with Snoop, his relationship with the late Nipsey Hussle, his decision to portray Method Man in Wu-Tang: An American Saga, and which of his albums is the most personal to him.

Check out the latest episode of Fresh Pair above.

This week, Kendrick Lamar struck back at Drake with the incisive diss track “Euphoria.” However, it looks like he still wasn’t satisfied; today, he doubled down with another new record, “6:16 In LA.” This time, he continued the direct approach, claiming that Drake’s own circle was feeding him info he would use to embarrass the Toronto superstar.

Yet for all the revealing info he shared, he left fans with as many questions as answers. The one most easily resolved, though, is what sample he used for the beat — and why. “6:16 In LA” is constructed around an interpolation of the 1972 Al Green song, “What A Wonderful Thing Love Is.” The song appeared on Green’s album I’m Still In Love With You and had previously been sampled on Kanye West’s mixtape track “Out The Game.”

Some astute fans pointed out that Drake has a familial connection to the original song. Drake’s dad, Dennis Graham, is the nephew of the song’s producer, Willie Mitchell. Although Drake’s Canadian origins are well-known, it seems many folks don’t know that he spent summers in Memphis with his father’s family — including the Mitchells — learning about the music business.

Fans think Kendrick’s use of the Al Green sample shows that he’s well aware of Drake’s music industry ties, and subtly suggests that the “Started From The Bottom” rapper may have had more of a leg up than he lets on. (So does half the music business, but that’s probably not going to sway rap fans who already want to see Drake fail.) It’s yet another demonstration of the advantages Kendrick feels he has over Drake in their long-running feud.

The most punk show on TV is coming back soon.

We Are Lady Parts, creator Nida Manzoor’s comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band living in the United Kingdom, was a critics’ favorite when it premiered on Channel 4 in the U.K. and Peacock in the United States in 2021. It’s one of the only shows on Rotten Tomatoes with a perfect 100 percent “Fresh” rating. The series even won a prestigious Peabody Award for offering a “multifaceted depiction of Muslim women rarely seen on screen.”

Ahead of the We Are Lady Parts season two premiere, here’s everything you need to know, including the release date and plot details.

Plot

In the We Are Lady Parts season one finale, Lady Parts performed a triumphant cover of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” during their first proper gig. Season two has the band — guitarist Amina, singer Saira, drummer Ayesha, and bassist Bisma — returning with “a renewed artistic mission after the high of their first UK tour, only to find a rival band threatens their delicate status quo,” according to the official plot synopsis. “As the reality of chasing success sets in, Lady Parts embarks on recording their first album, juggling personal ambitions and deciding whether ‘making it big’ is really what they want.”

Creator Nida Manzoor vowed to go “bolder, sillier, darker, and deeper” in season two, “and that is exactly what we strived to do,” she said in a statement. The new season will “explore the interior lives of each of the women in more depth. Each of them facing new, existential challenges with all the silliness, pratfalls and banter of season one. The music is bigger too – more wild original tunes (penned by me and my siblings) and dare I say it, even better covers. The season overall asks the question of success. What is success? For a punk band – is fame, stadium shows and major record deals the answer? I wanted to explore the uncomfortable tension between art and commerce and ask how much compromise is too much. I’m really proud of what we achieved, and can’t wait to share it with old fans and new.”

Get hyped.

Cast

We Are Lady Parts stars Anjana Vasan (Amina), Sarah Kameela Impey (Saira), Juliette Motamed (Ayesha), Faith Omole (Bisma), Lucie Shorthouse (Momtaz), Aiysha Hart (Noor), Zaqi Ismail (Ahsan), and Shobu Kapoor (Seema), while the guest stars this season include activist Malala Yousafzai and comedian Meera Syal.

Release Date

All six episodes of We Are Lady Parts season two premiere on Peacock on Thursday, May 30. You can watch all of season one on Peacock now.

Trailer

Lady Parts enter their “villain era” in the season two below.

The Scream franchise has been going through some pretty big changes over the last two years, it’s only a matter of time before Ghostface himself becomes an Instagram influencer who endorses buccal fat removal.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Neve Campbell would return to the franchise that she helped launch. For the upcoming seventh flick, Campbell is set to reprise her role of Sidney Prescott. “I’ve lived with Sidney for 30 years, and I’m really, really grateful to get to go back to it,”the actress told People.

Campbell had left the franchise in 2022 after salary negations for the sixth installment. At the time, she said, “I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man.”

For Scream 7, the franchise will have to address some major changes. Melissa Barrera was fired from the upcoming movie after expressing support for Palestine and calling for a ceasefire. Days later, fan-favorite Jenna Ortega exited the series, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts. Days after that, director Christopher Landon also left the film.

So, after all that, the team behind Scream 7 worked to get Campbell back on board in order to save Ghostface so he can kill again. “I’m really grateful that the studio heard me when I talked about pay discrepancy and when I talked about [Scream VI negotiations] not feeling respectful,” she says. “When they first approached me [for Scream 7], I thought, ‘I don’t know what respectful looks like to them. We might be in very different places.’ But they started out in a strong place, so that was lovely,” Campbell told People.

While the original Scream queen did not address the various cast changes, she said, “It feels nice to have put that out into the world and to have been listened to and to have made a difference in that way. I hope other people get that opportunity too.”

Kevin Williamson, who penned the first, second and fourth films, is set to direct the film, which currently does not have a release date, or any other confirmed cast, for that matter. Luckily for them, Courtney Cox is still a hard “maybe!”

(Via People)

Dua Lipa has one of the headlining new releases of the week with her album Radical Optimism, which just dropped hours ago. To mark the occasion, Lipa has teamed up with Instagram to help launched a new collaborative music sticker in Stories, called “Add Yours Music.”

Lipa is the first artist to debut the sticker on her Story, so if you’d like to see what this whole thing is about, read on to learn how to use it.

How To Use Dua Lipa And Instagram’s “Add Yours Music” Feature For Radical Optimism

There are two methods. To create your own Add Yours Music template: When posting a Story, tap the stickers icon at the top of the screen, then hit the “Add Yours Music” button. From there, tap the “+ / Add Music” prompt to choose a song available in the Instagram music library. After the Story is posted, followers and friends can add the song they’re listening to via the “Add Yours” button.

If you see an existing Add Yours Music sticker and want to add to it, tap on the “Add Yours” text. Then, tap the “+ / Add Music” prompt to choose a song. Then, you can customize the Story by adding stickers, text, and whatever else is usually an option to spice up Instagram Story posts.

Radical Optimism is out now via Warner Records. Find more information here.

Emily In Paris is gearing up for the sake of saying “enchanté” (her French is getting a bit better over the course of the show) with a fourth season on the way. On a minor note, this is exciting for the title character (portrayed by Lily Collins) on the professional front because she’s been helping to launch the French leg of Savior. Every viewer of this show knows, however, that the addictive part of this series lies in its cotton-candy soap operatics.

The most recent season finale ended with the cliffhanger of Emily and Hot Chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) realizing that they could no longer deny their mutual attraction. Unfortunately, that moment included Gabriel revealing that Camille (Camille Razat) is pregnant, and my goodness, both ladies should toss Gabriel to the curb, but that would likely ruin the show’s appeal.

When will the series return, so that we might be entertained by watching very attractive people make very bad choices? Netflix has dropped a little video from the cast, who charmingly reveal that Emily In Paris will return in two parts on August 15 and September 12.

Netflix loves their dual-part seasons these days, so that must be working out for them on the view-calculating front. What is sadder, however, is that this announcement video reveals that Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) hasn’t had enough of the drama. However, perhaps he and Camille can fall in love now? And then Emily and Gabriel will be free to enjoy that dirty skillet together. Would they actually last as a couple, however?

God only knows. We’re talking about a fluffy and frivolous yet inexplicably irresistible series, and the much better news here is that Ashley Park recovered from her health scare and is back to sing her heart out as Mindy and pretty much be the only person to judge Emily without consequence.

Additional returning cast members include Samuel Arnold (Julian), Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Sylvie), and Bruno Gouery (Luc). Also, do not forget about William Abadie (Antoine), who is the honest-to-god funniest actor in this series and deserves far more airtime. A spin off is probably too much to ask for, but perhaps he can receive his own standalone bottle episode while Emily runs off to visit Rome. Make it happen!

For the past few months, Lay Bankz has been a mainstay on all social media platforms. Whether it be X (formerly known as Twitter) or TikTok, Lay Bankz’s reach continues to grow by the month. The rapper, who hails from Philadelphia and is just 19 years old, follows a simple philosophy: Make good music and make sure it lands in people’s faces. It’s an idea that’s become the status quo in today’s social media era, especially in recent years with the presence of TikTok. It also presents the harder task of not being too much in the faces of the audience where they feel trapped, get annoyed, and run for the fences. There’s a balance to be mastered here.

Time will tell if Lay Bankz masters this, but it’s been so far so good for her. Her rise to fame kicked off last summer with the release of “Ick.” The bass-thumping addresses the “sassy man apocalypse” and begs men to “tighten the f*ck up.” The song went viral thanks to a video of Bankz dancing to it at a gas station. Her moves, which were energetic to say the least, forced you to stop and watch. The same could be said about her latest viral moment, pushed by her new single “Tell Ur Girlfriend.” The hype single is wildly infectious and begs for a few listens before moving on to something else. Both records, as well as her debut EP Now You See Me, are proof that Lay Bankz wants your attention, and she knows just how to get it.

With more music on the way, we caught up with Lay Bankz for the Uproxx Music 20 series. Scroll down to learn more about the rising Philly rapper.

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What is your earliest memory of music?

I remember music from the time I was 3 years old. The first song I ever sang was “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé.

Who inspired you to take music seriously?

Honestly, myself. Music is a form of expression and it’s subjective. Once I learned I could say how I felt in another form of conversation, I took advantage of that.

Do you know how to play an instrument? If so, which one? If not, which instrument do you want to learn how to play?

I grew up playing violin, I play a little piano too. I wanna get better at the piano and hopefully start playing guitar.

What was your first job?

Sweeping in my stepdad’s barbershop.

What is your most prized possession?

My voice. It’s a gift that I can’t see or touch. Intangible, but not unattainable. It’s brought so much to my life and I couldn’t hold anything else to such high value.

What is your biggest fear?

Not being able to sing. Or not being able to take care of the people who rely on me.

Who is on your hip-hop Mt. Rushmore?

Missy Elliott, Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, and Jay-Z.

You get 24 hours to yourself to do anything you want, with unlimited resources: What are you doing? And spare no details!

I would create jobs with the resources for everyone in need.

What are your three most used emojis?

— I couldn’t pick between these four.

What’s a feature you need to secure before you die?

Raye.

If you could appear in a future season of a current TV show, which one would it be and why?

Bridgerton, only because I’ve been watching it a lot recently.

Which celebrity do you admire or respect for their personality, and why?

Beyoncé, the way she controls any narrative placed upon her on any platform is admirable as ever. She always shows a sense of resilience, and she never does too much nor does she try hard to be herself. I love that about her.

Share your opinion on something no one could ever change your mind about.

Black-own everything.

What is the best song you’ve ever heard in your life, and what do you love about it?

That’s hard to say, there are so many songs I love. Doubling down on only one would be unfair because I grew up on so much music that I love for different reasons. Even to this day, I hear new music all the time that I appreciate for different reasons.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform, and what’s a city you’re excited to perform in for the first time?

Philly, the love different from your own city. I’m excited to go out of the country and show my talents overseas.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location where it would be held.

Latto, Flo Milli, Cash Cobain, NLE Choppa, and Tyla in Atlanta.

What would you be doing now if it weren’t for music?

I don’t know. Maybe playing soccer or painting professionally. Whatever I would be doing would involve some sort of creativity or me being active because those are things I love. I got accepted to 23 colleges too, so maybe I would’ve went to school to study law.

If you could see five years into the future or go five years into the past, which one would you pick and why?

The past, just to visit moments and feelings I feel like I didn’t get to feel entirely because of how fast they happened. I experience so much every day and my life moves so fast that it’s easy to not entirely take in what’s happening to me. I wouldn’t want to see the future because I’m gonna always get there. Why rush to see what’s already written?

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Love yourself first, because not everyone will love you how they say they do.

It’s 2050. The world hasn’t ended, and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

I want my music to be held in high regard, I want it to be timeless. 2050 and after.

The sexiest movie of the year not having any actual sex isn’t an outlier.

Analyst Stephen Follows examined the 250 highest-grossing live-action films in America for every year since 2000, and what he found was “that the level of sexual content in films has fallen by almost 40 percent,” according to The Economist. “In 2000 less than 20 percent of the highest-grossing movies had no sexual content at all. Today almost half lack it.”

Maybe 2023 being a strong year for sexual content (defined as sex and nudity) on the big screen with Poor Things, No Hard Feelings, Saltburn, Passages, even Oppenheimer will convince studios to be less prude. Then again…

The fate of the sex scene rests with the next generation. That does not bode well: Generation Z is notoriously chaste. Not only are youngsters having less sex than their elders did, but they also want to see less of it on screen, according to a poll conducted last year by the Centre for Scholars and Storytellers at University of California, Los Angeles. Asked to rank 19 topics they enjoyed watching in TV shows and movies, adolescents put “romance and/or sex” 13th; seventh was “content that doesn’t include sex or romance”. The future, it seems, may be PG-13.

Hmm, I wonder what happened in the early 2000s, what genre of movie suddenly becoming popular, made movies so sexless.

(Via The Economist)

Patrick Beverley did not have a very good Thursday night in Indiana. The Bucks guard scored just six points on 3-of-11 shooting and went 0-of-3 from long range in a 120-98 Game 6 loss to the Pacers that ended Milwaukee’s frustrating and disappointing season.

On the bench towards the end of the game, Beverley got into it with a fan seated behind the Bucks, throwing the ball at the fan twice. That got him called out by Charles Barkley and will almost assuredly earn him a hefty fine — and, potentially, could in a suspension to start next season depending on what comes of a likely NBA investigation into the altercation. After the game, Beverley added more fuel to the fire around his actions that night by refusing questions from ESPN producer Malinda Adams because she was not a subscriber to his podcast.

This is apparently something he’s done since arriving in Milwaukee, but this happened to be the first night he’s done much of national note since joining the Bucks.

As such, his actions drew a bigger spotlight, and he got ripped by an awful lot of prominent media folks at ESPN and beyond.

Beverley really touched ’em all in Game 6 with a bad game, fan altercation, media controversy, and getting viciously trolled by his opponent after a series loss.