Camila Cabello’s new album C, XOXO is out now, and she goes all in on Drake, with the rapper appearing on two songs: “Hot Uptown” And “Uuugly.” Unlike Cabello, a lot of people haven’t been on Drake’s side lately in light of his feud with Kendrick Lamar. Cabello has seemingly been watching, and she doesn’t love how Drake gets treated. People would like Drake if they got to know him, she reckons.
In a recent interview with The Times (as NME notes), Cabello called Drake “such a delight,” adding, “It’s so frustrating to see people talk about someone you know in a way that is negative. You’re like, ‘Dang, if only you guys could just have dinner or something.’”
Meanwhile, in a May interview, Cabello spoke about working with Drake, saying, “He’s the f*cking GOAT, so it felt like shooting for the stars. I showed him the album when I felt comfortable enough and he really liked it. [The feature] came out of a non-transactional place. He had this idea of a song called ‘Hot Uptown,’ and it just felt like I was in the city. I was in Miami.”
C, XOXO is out now via Geffen/Interscope. Find more information here.
Long before their rivalry and subsequent string of collaborations, Jay-Z and Nas first appeared on a record together called “No Love Lost” nearly 30 years ago. The record in question was to appear on Shaquille O’Neal’s third studio album, You Can’t Stop The Reign. However, for one reason or another, when the album was released, the song only featured Jay-Z and Lord Tariq.
And so, for the 28 or so years since that album’s 1996 release, rumors and rough cuts and mashups circulated rap forums, all purporting to be the original collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas. All hope was lost — until earlier this year, when Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive revealed that not only would You Can’t Stop The Reign come to streaming at long last, but it would also feature the original version of “No Love Lost” with Nas’ verse restored.
You can now hear the song in all its glory, featuring Jay and Nas in their respective primes over a beat by Poke & Tone below. 2024 has turned out to be a prolific year for gems from Shaq’s storied second career; earlier this month, Shaq reminisced on Ice Cube stopping him from dropping a song with Dr. Dre. Prior to that, the NBA Hall of Famer dropped a diss track for Shannon Sharpe over Nikola Jokic — no, really.
Inside Out 2 is not only the highest-grossing movie of 2024 — it’s one of the highest-grossing movies of all-time. The sequel to 2015’s Oscar-winning Inside Out, which could top $1 billion at the box office this weekend, is already in the top 100 (when not adjusted for inflation) after three weeks in theaters.
Joy, Anger, Sadness, & Co. recently passed Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and both Deadpools, and they’re coming for Minions: The Rise of Gru, Shrek 2, and a bunch of Harry Potters. The only Pixar films that have grossed more are Finding Nemo ($940 million), Finding Dory ($1 billion), Toy Story 3 ($1 billion), Toy Story 4 ($1 billion), and Incredibles 2 ($1.2 billion).
So what’s next for the animation studio?
There are currently three films on the schedule: Elio (which is directed by Coco writer Adrian Molina and follows “an underdog with an active imagination who finds himself inadvertently beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide”) on June 13, 2025; a mysteriously untitled film on March 6, 2026; and Toy Story 5 on June 19, 2026. You can’t digitally de-age Woody when he never ages!
As for Inside Out 2, featuring breakout character/new worry for children Anxiety, it’s going to keep playing in theaters for months to come before eventually making its Disney+ debut.
“I bet you didn’t think when you woke up this morning you were going to fall in love with a five-foot-four gremlin…”
If you’re not in love with Benny Blanco already, you’re about to be. The award-winning producer and songwriter joined forces with Uproxx for “Skrew The Usual,” a partnership with Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey to highlight his unorthodox approach to, well… everything.
Benny isn’t just one of the most effective hitmakers of the past fifteen years, he’s also a best-selling author, an actor, and a great cook (with a hit cook book). But if you heard it from him, he’s not particularly good at anything. He will only admit to having good taste and being passionate about everything he touches, which has served him well throughout his career.
“My creative superpower?” he asks in the video above. “Knowing when something is done, when it’s not done, when you just gotta add a little twinkle on top.”
Throughout “Skrew The Usual,” Benny exhibits some of the magic he brings to his various projects by helping bartender Saeed “Hawk” House elevate a great cocktail into the sort of drink that would be worthy of winning a Grammy. If… you know… cocktails won Grammy Awards.
The video showcases how curiosity and passion are effective tools for any creative endeavor. Throughout the video, Benny is like a kid in a candy store, marveling at Hawk’s different bar tools, from smokers to torches. They experiment with boba, popsicles, shaved coconut, and pineapple sorbet, all in an effort to craft the perfect drink.
The process reminds Benny of crafting various hits in his music career, from writing Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” to Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite.” Towards the end of the video, the tables turn and Benny is put in the hot seat, improvising a dessert using Skrewball-infused ingredients.
The video is a must-watch whether you’re a fan of music, whiskey, or simply interested in the creative process. It’s also just a ton of fun to spend any time with Benny and Hawk. Check it out above!
As we get closer to the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s starting to look more and more like an actual movie and less like Ryan Reynolds just messing around with his frenemy Hugh Jackman.
Reynolds posted yet another clip from the upcoming superhero movie which reveals the return of a fan-favorite character we haven’t seen in over a decade. Unfortunately, it’s not Anna Paquin as Rogue, but maybe one day.
In the new trailer, fans get a glimpse at Sabretooth, Wolverine’s half brother who first appeared in X-Men (2000) portrayed by Tyler Mane. When Sabretooth returned in 2009’s prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Liev Schreiber portrayed the mutant.
Mane makes his triumphant return in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, reprising his role from over 20 years ago. Ryan Reynolds seems to hold the unique power to influence anyone to return to the X-Men universe, apparently. It seems to be working pretty well for him.
Mane, who starred in Rob Zombie’s Halloween remakes, appears as Sabretooth in the latest look at the upcoming installment, and his teeth sure look sharp. During a battle sequence, Wolverine asks in his signature raspy voice, “Who’s next?” to which Sabretooth steps up to the plate. A little family reunion!! How cute.
Former Sabretooth Liev Schrieber has not mentioned returning to the superhero universe, though he just had a guest spot on Rick and Morty, so he’s probably doing fine without Wolverine.
Deadpool & Wolverine will bicker their way into theaters on July 26th.
The top ESPN NBA broadcast team will change for the second straight year with JJ Redick departing the booth to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. That leaves Mike Breen and Doris Burke as a two-person team for now, and it’s not abundantly clear whether they will fill that third seat immediately or not.
Redick stepped in midseason for Doc Rivers, who returned to broadcasting after being fired by the Sixers, only to return to coaching in January after the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin. Rivers and Burke had replaced longtime analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, who spent 15 years next to Breen. Jackson and Van Gundy were polarizing to fans, but they were beloved by Breen, who recently joined Jackson on The Mark Jackson Show and talked at the 26:10 mark about how “honored” he was to have shared the booth with those two.
“We had a friendship, the three of us, before we ever called games together,” Breen said. “So then all of a sudden, not only are you around these people that you love as brothers and you have such respect and admiration, and now all of a sudden you’re calling the biggest games in basketball with them, year in and year out. It just, for me, it was such an honor. And Blu, I’ll say this to you cause he gets embarrassed when I say this stuff, and I made this statement in the Hall of Fame when I was blessed to get the Gowdy award. I said, the reason that I got that award was because of our work together. It’s not a singular award, it’s our work together. We were a team. Just like playing basketball is a team sport, broadcasting basketball is a team sport. And that’s why I was up there on that stage that night, because of our work together as a team.”
Breen noted before the season that he was “shocked” by ESPN’s decision to change course with its lead broadcast team, and while he and Burke have worked together for a long time, both with her on sidelines and in an analyst role, it was clear the addition of Rivers and then Redick would need time to build some chemistry on the call. Neither of them were willing to give it time, bolting (understandably) for high profile coaching jobs, and now ESPN has to figure out what to do next.
It looks like the rollout for Latto’s upcoming album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea, has begun in earnest. The Atlanta rapper released a new song, “Big Mama,” and its video, in which she and her sister Brooklyn book a flight to Miami, where they turn up at the club, twerk it out on a yacht, and cruise the streets in luxury cars. Latto said her new album is going to “wash” her old music, and we already see flashes of how she has been working on new approaches to familiar subjects in “Big Mama.”
The song puts the rapper’s duality on display, opening with a soft and sweet verse in which she gushes about her man before the beat turns hard and Latto gets boastful, putting down her enemies while still bragging about her boyfriend. Speaking of: she might never beat the “dating 21 Savage” allegations after basically employing his flow throughout the first half of “Big Mama” and flashing that tattoo, which peaks out from behind her “Big Mama” door knocker earrings in a closeup.
— The Real Destiny Marilyn (@sweet_novacanee) June 28, 2024
“Big Mama” follows the release of “Sunday Service” and its remix, which features Flo Milli and Megan Thee Stallion, suggesting that her album may be coming sooner than later. She revealed the album’s title during her recent Birthday Bash concert in her hometown, where she brought out a slew of local stars, including 21 Savage, Summer Walker, and Usher, who she helped through a performance of his hit “Superstar” when technical difficulties struck.
For weeks, there was speculation that the Los Angeles Lakers would use the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft to select Bronny James and pair him up with his father, LeBron. That ended up coming to fruition on Thursday night in the second round of the NBA Draft, as the team took the guard out of USC.
Whether or not Bronny makes it in the NBA remains to be seen — it’s worth mentioning that, for how unique his freshman year was with the Trojans, guys who get picked in the 50s rarely go on to be effective NBA players. Still, it’s essentially a free roll of the dice on a guy with legitimate NBA upside that also makes LeBron happy, so the Lakers were probably very happy to do this. And understandably, folks on Twitter made plenty of jokes about the selection, with one in particular gaining a ton of traction.
It has been discovered that LeBron James is sleeping with his newest teammate’s mom
Here’s the fun twist in all of this: It turns out Twitter’s AI chatbot, Grok, got fooled into thinking something serious was going on. Grok, among other things, summarizes news on the platform based on what people post, but one of its issues is that it can have a hard time understanding when something is, you know, real. As such, this happened:
Kristaps Porzingis ended up in Boston after a particularly strange NBA career. While he entered the league as one of the most exciting European prospects in recent memory — a gigantic, skilled big man who could stretch the floor and protect the rim — his tenure with the New York Knicks was filled with ups and downs before he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and signed a big extension. Things just flat out didn’t work out in Dallas, though, so he was salary dumped to the Washington Wizards, where he spent a year and a half rehabbing his career before joining the Boston Celtics in a deal where Boston netted two first-round picks, too.
Sometimes, NBA players follow weird paths to get to the mountaintop. Porzingis is one of the best examples of this — he started off on some truly awful Knicks teams, then his fit on the Mavs wasn’t nearly as smooth as it seemed. In Boston, he got put into a perfect role, one which accentuated what he does well.
The Celtics are not the first championship team to find a guy like that — another really good example of this, funny enough, came with last year’s champs, as the Denver Nuggets saw that Aaron Gordon was overextended as the guy in Orlando put him into a perfect role alongside Nikola Jokic. The NBA has had plenty of champions like this over the years, as identifying guys who are not in the right role and giving them a chance to play that role on their team can help get them over the top.
With the NBA’s free agency period beginning soon, we tried to identify guys who could stand to benefit from a smaller role on a team that would let them lean into what they do well.
Mikal Bridges
There may not have been a more miscast guy in the NBA than Bridges, who is a spectacular player that was overextended as the main guy in Brooklyn. It was especially hard to watch because we’ve seen what happens when Bridges is in a role that leans into the stuff he does well: catch-and-shoot threes, some occasional self-creation and playmaking for others, switchy perimeter defense where his length is used as an asset.
He was great for the Nets after the Phoenix Suns traded him for Kevin Durant, then did not look like the same guy this past season, which is ok. Now he’s on the Knicks, who traded five first round picks to complete their Villanova collection, in what appears to be an ideal fit for him to slide back into that role that made him such a valued player around the league. While the rest of the players on this list are waiting to find a potential new home, Bridges has that across the river in Manhattan where he’ll join Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, and the rest to form what they hope will be a dominant force in the Eastern Conference. New York is hoping less is more for Bridges (similar to how Anunoby thrived last year after his arrival from Toronto), and they’re happy to pay to have guys that can thrive in a defined space rather than asking them to do more than they’ve shown to be comfortable doing.
Zach LaVine
By all accounts, LaVine’s stock is as low as ever right now. Between the insane amount of money he’s owed on his deal and his injury history, all the reports about the Bulls trying very hard to find a deal for him and coming up short make a ton of sense. He’s not a bad player by any stretch of the imagination, but last year was such a lost season for him that it’s understandable why teams would be leery of acquiring him. And with Alex Caruso now in Oklahoma City, one of the best pieces the Bulls had to sweeten the pot in a LaVine deal is now gone.
It is fair to say that LaVine as the guy your offense is built around just can’t happen anymore — even when he is 100 percent, his inability to consistently set up his teammates makes this a non-starter, while his defense is always going to be a weakness. Still, he’s such a dynamic scorer when he’s healthy that it’s not hard to imagine him doing well if he ends up as a second or third option on the right team — putting him on a team like Philadelphia, where everything will run through Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid on offense and the big man can clean up his mistakes on defense, would be reasonable, if they’d want to take on his salary.
Brandon Ingram
Kind of similar to LaVine — I think it’s pretty safe to say that Ingram as a No. 1 option, or Ingram as a 1A alongside Zion Williamson, is just not a winning formula at the highest level. Sure, New Orleans can (and will) win a bunch of games in the regular season, but we’ve seen that this group has a pretty apparent ceiling on it, and if the decision gets made to build entirely around Williamson and their collection of talented, two-way wings, suddenly Ingram doesn’t fit especially well, and would give them a trade chip as they build out their roster.
Still, as a scorer, Ingram would bring value to a team that needs a shot in the arm on offense, especially if they’re able to take advantage of his feel as a playmaker and can hide his deficiencies as a defendere. It’s a delicate balance to figure out, because you don’t want to over-correct for your need to get better on offense by really hurting your defense, but if you can strike that balance, Ingram is a good option — especially if he won’t get checked by an opposing team’s best perimeter defender, as he showed that guys like Lu Dort can really give him trouble this postseason. That hypothetical with the Sixers and LaVine makes sense here, too.
Jerami Grant
It’s been quite the journey for Grant. Going from a second-round pick who grinded away on the Process Sixers to a guy who has made nine figures in his basketball career and has a lot of money coming his way is legitimately very impressive. He also hasn’t played for a team that has won more than 33 games since his 1-year pit stop with the Denver Nuggets back in 2019-20. And while he’s owed a lot of money over the next three years (or four, if he opts into his player option in 2027-28), it’s more palatable considering how the cap will go up in that time.
Grant is a good player who has shouldered a ton of responsibility in Detroit and Portland over the last few years, and while that responsibility has turned him into a better player and got him a monster payday last offseason, he’d be a very smart acquisition for a team that wants to try someone in the Aaron Gordon archetype. Gordon is a more athletic and versatile defender, while Grant is a better shooter. For a team that can use reinforcements on the wing and a little more shooting out of their third option, Grant would be one heck of a pickup.
Kyle Kuzma
If a team is going to bet against the Wizards again, Kuzma seems like a pretty good guy for that. It’d make sense if they want to move him — Kuzma turns 29 in July, his contract descends each of the next three years, and he only has about $65 million left owed to him over that time. Maybe he likes life in D.C. and the team values him as a veteran who has won a ring, but he’s like Grant in that he’s grown to a point where he’s a good player asked to do a lot on a team that doesn’t win a bunch of games. In a sign of how ridiculously gigantic his role was on his team, Kuzma took the sixth most field goal attempts per 36 minutes in the NBA last season — only Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Steph Curry, De’Aaron Fox, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took more.
Kuzma was a little better than he got credit for on the Lakers’ championship winning team — he embraced a role off the bench after putting up big numbers on bad teams to start his career, and while he probably won’t want to end up in a situation where he takes that small of a role, he’d be a nice third or fourth starter on a team that wants someone who can score a little and guard bigger wings. Like Grant, he’s not the same player archetype as Gordon, but in the right context he could be a very good 4-man for a contender.
Lauri Markkanen
The way Markkanen’s career has gone draws some parallels to Porzingis — a nice player who didn’t quite work out for the team that drafted him, a stop elsewhere before going to the team where he’s really blossomed. Would Utah actually want to trade him, or would the team view him as an important piece for whatever they are building around some of their younger dudes and whomever they bring in going forward? An important piece of the puzzle here: Markkanen is on an expiring deal, and he only makes $18 million before he hits unrestricted free agency next summer.
He’s been a very good player in Utah, earning an All-Star bid two seasons ago, but if there is one executive who you have to think would make a deal if the right one comes along, it’s Danny Ainge. Markkanen’s flaws defensively and as someone who doesn’t really create shots for others mean it’s hard to see him being the best player on a championship team, but his size, shooting, and rebounding mean it’s very easy to see him being a member of one. It’s hard to imagine a team with championship aspirations that he couldn’t help, particularly if they already have a really good core in place that he can help take to another level — I love the thought of him being the guy Oklahoma City cashes in some of its trade chips to acquire as a running mate for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Mia Goth might sound like the name of a shady Sims character, but it belongs to a modern star turned scream queen. Over the past two years, Goth has positioned herself as the top horror-maker with X, Pearl and now MaXXXine. But for someone who has been steadily on the rise, it appears that Goth doesn’t really like her job…or maybe she’s just acting? It’s unclear.
While speaking with Time, Goth expressed her difficulty with acting. “The truth is, I hate acting. Acting is actually the hardest thing to do. It’s this elusive thing and you think you have it—it’s like trying to grip smoke.” Goth seems to like the elusiveness, however, as she added that the opportunities are not lost on her, “I love it so much.” So which is it? We may never know.
In MaXXXine, Goth stars as the titular adult film actress who bursts onto the Hollywood scene in ’80s LA. As she lands a leading role, Maxine must grapple with her tumultuous past. You know, all of the murder and whatnot.
Even with the real-life controversy surrounding the latest X installment, in which an extra accused Goth of bullying and intentionally kicking him, Goth says that she’s keeping her ego in check. “My sense of self is actually quite low,” she says. “I’m actually trying to build myself up a little more.” She should take Pearl’s acting advice!
Next up on her schedule will be starring in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein alongside Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac. So…she must not hate acting that much, or else she could easily start that blueberry pancake cafe that she’s been chatting about.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
(@HenryTheBlasian) 
