Month: July 2024

Usher has had one hell of a 2024. He’s got a new album, he’s headed on tour, he performed at the Super Bowl, and now, he’s been honored with a BET Lifetime Achievement Award. However, we aren’t sure how he feels about it, because BET’s infamously touchy censor weighed in pretty heavily during Usher’s acceptance speech after he let some colorful language fly in reference to his absentee father. The speech ended up sounding a bit like the radio edit of Snoop Dogg’s “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None),” only without the fly instrumental. Fans were quick to let their own commentary off the chain on Twitter.

Despite this, the mics were indeed on during the tribute performance honoring Usher, which featured an all-star roster of nearly all women singers covering hits from across Usher’s near-30-year run of hits. Included in the performance were Childish Gambino (“U Don’t Have To Call”), Keke Palmer (“You Make Me Wanna”), Summer Walker (“Good Good”), Coco Jones (“There Goes My Baby”), Marsha Ambrosius (“Confessions Pt.2”), Chlöe (“Good Kisser”), Tinashe (“Nice & Slow”), Teyana Taylor & Victoria Monét (“Bad Girl”), and Latto (“Yeah!”).

This isn’t the first time the BET Awards have had censor issues — it’s a tradition going back decades at this point. Nor is this the first time this month Usher has had technical difficulties on the mic, after Latto had to help save his performance at her Birthday Bash in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. Check out his speech… in all its censored glory… above.

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It was a big year for Usher, who completed his Vegas residency, then released his new album Coming Home just as he performed in the Super Bowl Halftime Show. It was as good a year as any to give him the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by none other than legendary producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

With his new multimedia project Bando Stone And The New World on the way, and his album Atavista already out, Donald Glover — aka Childish Gambino — was the first to hit the stage at the 2024 BET Awards to pay homage to Usher with a fluttering falsetto performance of Usher’s 8701 hit, “U Don’t Have To Call,” with Keke Palmer. Palmer picked up the torch to perform his breakout “You Make Me Wanna,” then his “Good Good” collaborator Summer Walker hit the stage to perform their collab.

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Coco Jones was the next star to emerge — from the crowd, no less — to sing “There Goes My Baby” with some audience participation that would make Usher himself proud. “Confessions Pt.2” was performed by Marsha Ambrosius — and yes, she did hit that run — as she was encircled by laser beams. Chlöe popped out next to perform “Good Kisser” in a glittering bodysuit, followed by Tinashe, who performed Usher’s first No. 1, “Nice & Slow.”

Next up was Teyana Taylor and Victoria Monét, who performed a sexy duet dance routine to “Bad Girl.” Latto then joined a fleet of dancers to remake the “Yeah!” video onstage, with her performing Ludacris’ iconic verse ahead of the finale, during which all the other women returned to the stage.

You can watch the performance above and find the full list of 2024 BET Awards nominees and winners here.

Tyla’s self-titled debut album has received raved reviews, from fans and Uproxx alike. Unfortunately, supporters weren’t album to enjoy any of the songs from the project after she was forced to cancel her supporting tour.

But tonight (June 30), supporters from around the world were able to witness what could’ve been. Alongside her collaborators, Gunna and Skillibeng, Tyla performed her single, “Jump.” To pay homage to her South African heritage (as shown in the track’s official video), the set was filled with nods to the motherland.

There was no water to be found, but there was plenty of nature element. Surrounded by a mock safari display, Tyla’s background dancers even assumed the role of lioness trapped in a cage with NSFW body art. But even the box couldn’t hold Tyla’s slithery dance moves.

Tyla found viral success thanks to her liquid and booty jump combination seen in the official video for “Water.” But she has much more than one-legged twerking in her choreography bag. She can wine, twerk, but most importantly sing live. As the budding amapiano pop crossover princess, Tyla’s vocal ability can’t be ignored. Earlier in the evening, Tyla took home the awards for Best New Artist and Best International Act, so it certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

Watch clips Tyla’s 2024 BET Awards performance above.

Ice Spice has undoubtedly been one of hip-hop’s biggest rising stars of the past couple years. The whole time, along with her undeniable bars, she has made use of her sex appeal. A combination of both factors fueled her 2024 BET Awards performance.

The performance opened up with “Phat Butt” and Ice made the moment all about the song’s namesake on a gas station set. She then kept things in backside territory by moving onto “Think U The Sh*t (Fart)” to wrap up her two-song medley.

Ice is about a month away from the release of her upcoming album, Y2K, the cover art of which saw a bit of criticism. Starting in a few days, she’ll also be heading out on tour in support of the album, alongside Cash Cobain. This is all going down as she gears up to star alongside Denzel Washington in an upcoming movie.

Ice Spice has three nominations at this year’s awards. Her and Nicki Minaj’s “Barbie World” is up for Best Collaboration, Ice herself is up for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, and “Barbie World” is also up for Video Of The Year.

Check out the performance above and find the full list of 2024 BET Awards nominees and winners here.

(Spoilers for House of the Dragon, both TV show and book, will be found below.)

In House of the Dragon’s third episode, sin begets sin and old transgressions never stay buried for long.

The show’s been teasing war for a few weeks now but finally, there’s movement on that front as Daemon makes his way to Harrenhal and quickly encounters the ghosts of failed assasination attempts past. While he struggles to define what’s real and what might be the work of the castle’s resident witch, Rhaenyra wrangles an unruly council and Aegon sends Criston Cole on the road. The episode ends with some truly unserious hijinks that prove prophecies have no place in this game for the throne.

Here’s a breakdown of the biggest moments from episode three and what they mean for the show going forward.

The Blackwoods Vs. The Brackens

The show’s third episode opens with a glimpse of the chaos a war between Targaryens might cause across the realm. We meet Benjicot Blackwood, Westeros’ number one shit stirrer, as he confront members of House Bracken over a heap of moved stones and grazing cows. Settling the question of boundary lines isn’t really his priority though, it’s drawing blood, something he’s quick to do when a knight for Team Green throws around the term “babe killer” in relation to his queen. It’s a jarring reset when the screen fades from two boys with barely-dropped balls arguing over cattle to a field littered with dead bodies and slain soldiers, but it’s an effective one, reminding us how easily the fight among dragons can be used as fodder to fuel centuries-long feuds.

The good news? Benjicot – or Bloody Ben as book readers may know him – seems to have survived this bout and become a Lord. RIP to his dad, though.

Preparing For War

Criston Cole’s got those first-day work jitters and for good reason. He’s replaced Otto Hightower as Aegon’s right hand man and now, he’s tasked with appeasing a bloodthirsty child who’s simply playing at being king. His grand scheme to pit brother against brother in the hopes Rhaenyra might get caught in the crosshairs failed embarrassingly, so he’s tasked with a new battle plan. Out of his depth amongst a council that’s filled with vultures who’ve spent years scheming their way to a seat of power, Cole plays the only hand he has: his ability to pick up a sword and whack the sh*t out of people. The idea of violence – and a march on Harrenhal to secure the Riverlands – satisfies Aegon’s craving for revenge, which should be enough to mark it as a truly terrible decision. We honestly can’t wait to see it blow up in his punch-able little face.

While we wait, Rhaenyra is at Dragonstone sans her husband, burying a member of her Kingsguard and his traitorous brother together because she is a kind and just ruler like that. (For some people, it just comes natural.) As much as House of the Dragon teased the idea of female rage and Rhaenyra’s desire for vengeance this season, the show has placed her as the voice of reason amongst the bunch of squabbling men surrounding her throne. It helps that she has Rhaenys, a woman who’s already suffered a humiliating rejection in the line of succession, to whisper words of wisdom in her ear. She suggests a treaty with Alicent, believing the two women desire peace more than the men currently behaving so impulsively at the Red Keep. Lucky for Rhaenyra, Mysaria has stuck around, hoping for a spot in her court in exchange for making the Hightowers pay for their crimes. Alicent may be playing babysitter to a table full of men jockeying for position with their idiotic war games, but it’s Rhaenyra, Mysaria, and Rhaenys who are actually plotting – ensuring that, should war come, dragons won’t die out and entire houses won’t be left without heirs. The tiny princes of Dragonstone are sent with a reluctant Rhaena to Pentos (along with some dragon eggs that should be familiar to Game of Thrones fans) and the question of a Driftmark heir is posed so blatantly, you’d have to be blind to miss how the Hull brothers factor in.

Team Green might be out for blood, but it’s Team Black that feels better positioned early on in this war. At least, for now.

Boys Night Out

Aegon, desperate to prove he actually knows how to ride a dragon, is swayed from donning some Valyrian steel and taking a road trip with Criston Cole by his new Master of Whispers, Larys Strong. Sure, what’s a boner over your mom’s feet pics to a sniveling tyrant in need of a court ally with some actual brains? Aegon drinks away his disappointment over not getting to show off his shiny new fit with a night on the town, buying drinks for the smallfolk and helping to pop his squire’s cherry – not personally of course, but if there’s one thing Aegon is, it’s a brothel expert. While there, he stumbles upon his brother doing that weird thing he likes to do, i.e. pretending to be a baby while the madame cradles his oversized naked body and sings him a lullaby or some sh*t. It’s all still too weird to investigate further, but Aegon’s not afraid to make a spectacle of his brother’s kink, revealing the prostitute is the same who took his virginity and possibly the only woman he’s ever been with. (Why does he even know that?) The layers of dysfunction continue to pile up between these two, but it’s fairly stupid on Aegon’s part to anger his best weapon – a man with the realm’s biggest dragon and loosest moral code. The odds that Aemond won’t betray him before the end are getting slimmer and slimmer.

The Witch Of Harrenhal

Daemon’s self-imposed exile brings him to Harrenhal, a crumbling castle – the largest in Westeros – that’s seen better days. The roof is leaking, the bones of Rhaenyra’s last lover still litter the floor, and the halls are literally haunted by those burned to death, courtesy of Daemon’s Targaryen ancestors. Claiming the dump is pretty anticlimactic considering it’s a gaudy trash heap run by an aging lord (Simon Strong) who hates his nephew – and having his venison supper interrupted. While Daemon worries over his potentially poisoned peas, Strong offers some helpful background on the situation in the Riverlands – a place showrunner Ryan Condal hinted we’d be spending plenty of time this season. It’s a grimy old swamp, sure, and it’s run by wrinkled husks with chronic diarrhea, but if Daemon can persuade these walking dustbins to bend the knee, he’ll control the largest undeclared host in the realm – and Harrenhal will be the garrison where it’s housed.

Hopefully that thought keeps the prickly little prince warm at night because nothing about Harrenhal is comforting. I once stayed at a motel with a bathroom so small, the door could only be opened one way lest it get stuck between the rusty toilet and the stained wall. I’d prefer that to this place, with its howling winds and burnt ceilings and whatever biohazard is responsible for the hallucinations Daemon begins to suffer from. His waking nightmare gives us the season’s first surprise cameo – Milly Alcock is back to play the younger Rhaenyra, left sewing up that poor kid’s throat as she scolds Matt Smith for the messes his character seems to constantly make. When Daemon comes to, he’s in front of a weirwood with a strange woman predicting he’ll die in this place. Is this Alys Rivers, the mystical blueprint for Melisandre who eventually aligns herself with Aemond to take down the Rogue Prince? Probably, but something about her face has me convinced she’s filmed a Tik Tok video before so I really can’t take her too seriously at this point. Birth a shadow baby and then we’ll talk, Al.

The Hand Marches On

If his personality didn’t do the trick, Criston Cole’s new haircut is enough to make the nethers of every woman in Westeros drier than the Red Waste. Before he can take off for the Riverlands with a shockingly small contingent, Alicent bursts his bubble by inviting her brother, Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) to crash his boys’ trip. The guy’s not too pleased about his dad’s dismissal from court, or that he’s going to be expected to sleep outdoors, making him a real thorn in Cole’s side. Their argument on the King’s Road makes them easy prey for Baela, who’s doing a bit of patrolling in the skies, but before she can toast him, Cole manages to find cover. If cockroaches exist in Westeros, Cole needs to be classified as one.

A Prophecy Retold

We’ll probably never make it through a season of George R.R. Martin’s universe without hearing that damn Prince Who Was Promised prophecy but House of the Dragon manages to give it more purpose in the waning minutes of episode three. It’s been a red herring and a let-down for Game of Thrones fans but here, it’s simply a story a paranoid and dying man clung to that, when misheard, caused the downfall of a great house and signaled the end of dragons. It’s ridiculous and insignificant and so stupid, it reminds us that yes, these characters are kings and queens and dragon-riders but they’re also just human. Rhaenyra pulls a Sister Act move, disguising herself as a nun in order to intercept Alicent in the hope she can convince her to have a talk with her son, but their chat doesn’t go as planned. Instead, she learns Alicent heard her father’s prophecy and, not understanding its true meaning, believed he’d changed his mind about the line of succession. It’s a flimsy excuse considering Alicent knows what a waste of space Aegon is and lived all her life knowing her husband not only loved his daughter, but believed in her ability to rule. Still, the way Emma D’Arcy sells this breakdown of a friendship, the yearning in Rhaenyra’s eyes, the tremble in her voice as she pleads with her former ally to let go of her pride and admit her mistake before thousands die, it’s pretty damn powerful.

Latto started the year with a few sour words for her foes on tracks like “Sunday Service.” But Latto leaving the bitterness behind to enjoy her recent successes, which includes making history at Birthday Bash ATL 2024 as the event’s first woman headliner.

During the 2024 BET Awards, Latto took another victory lap. With the “Big Mama” rapper’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea album on the way, she used the stage to delivery a sweet offering of what to come.

Tonight (June 30), Latto performed a medley of an unreleased song, “Sunday Service,” and “Big Mama” with her sister Brooklyn Nikole cheering her on in the front row.

Last year, Latto took home the Best Female Hip-Hop Artist award and put it all on the floor with a showing of her then viral hit. So, today, it was only right to outdo herself.

Dripped in diamonds and fur, Latto that she’s come a long way since her time on the music competition show, The Rap Game. Latto referenced the series in the opening snippet. But that wasn’t the only throwback deep cut she spotlighted. Dressed in a silk leopard set, Latto thumbed her nose at jokes about her only owning animal print undergarments with a savage twerk session.

Watch Latto’s performance at the 2024 BET Awards above.

(Spoilers for House of the Dragon, both TV show and book, will be found below.)

After last week’s Battle of the Twins and upward fail of Criston Cole, House of the Dragon‘s second season kicked into a new gear: moving on from plotting to warring.

This week, Prince Daemon — who has become less of an irresistibly smirking rogue prince and more of a dejected agent of chaos — leaves Dragonstone on the wings of Caraxes. Yes, he is doing this to advance Team Black, but he also didn’t mind fleeing after Rhaenyra pointed out that he’s pouting over Viserys passing him over as heir. So, Daemon and his subpar hair head to Harrenhal, where he meets zero resistance — “I’m claiming Harrenhal” received an “apparently so” and an instant knee bend — at the castle.

Daemon soon finds, however, that his experience of Harrenhal will be that of a house of horrors. The most disturbing instance of this vibe is his hallucination of young Rhaenyra sewing together the body of Prince Jaeharys, who recently perished due to Daemon’s botched Blood and Cheese plot. Viewers were not only thrilled to see Milly Alcock make an appearance but also to see Daemon feeling some haunted remorse for his actions.

Why the visions for Daemon? Perhaps Alys Rivers, an alleged bastard of House Strong who is referred to by some as the “witch queen,” might be working her magic against Daemon, an act that probably does not bode well for him. Alys even pointedly predicts that Daemon will meet his end at Harrenhal, so stay tuned to see if that comes to fruition.

House of the Dragons airs on Sunday nights.

GloRilla has one of the year’s biggest songs so far with “Wanna Be,” and that tune and others made the cut for her 2024 BET Awards performance.

Right from the jump, GloRilla decided to enter the stage via a (prop) parachute. From there, she ran through an energetic medley featuring “Yeah Glo!,” “TGIF,” and “Wanna Be.” “Wanna Be,” of course, is a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion. Meg opened the BET Awards with a performance of her own, so she stuck around and gave Glo an assist by joining for the song, even wrapping things up with an on-stage twerk-off.

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Glo has been up to a lot lately. She recently hosted a “WAP” reunion by getting Cardi B on a remix of her and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wanna Be,” which was already in contention for Song Of The Summer consideration even without Cardi. She also teamed up with Latto for some backstage dance competition action backstage on Meg’s Hot Girl Summer Tour. Uproxx also declared that her latest, EhhThang EhhThang, was one of April’s best hip-hop albums.

GloRilla has two nominations tonight: She’s up for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist and “Yeah Glo!” is in contention for the BET Her award.

Watch Glo’s performance above and find the full list of 2024 BET Awards nominees and winners here.

Will Smith took a page from the book of Kanye West — fortunately, not the one about Jewish people — for his 2024 BET Awards performance, employing a full Sunday Service-esque choir (led by Kirk Franklin, naturally) to accompany him as he debuted an inspirational new song, “Bulletproof.” The stage was set up like something West would have deployed during his Donda era, replete with dancing flames and extremely Yeezy wardrobe to boot — pun intended. If Will Smith wants to move into the space recently vacated by the disgraced Kanye, though, we could do worse.

Smith certainly has had his share of self-inflicted tribulations over the last couple of years. Those stem, of course, from the 2022 Academy
Awards, when Smith walked onstage to slap the host, comedian Chris Rock, after Rock made some disparaging remarks about Smith’s wife(?), Jada Pinkett Smith. Since then, due to Will and Jada’s promotional tours for their respective memoirs, the rapper/actor fell out of public favor for some time due to their persistent oversharing.

However, you’re only ever one hit away from a comeback, and in Will’s case, that hit is Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, which is not only dominating the box office, but also reminding people why they loved the Philly native as an actor in the first place. With his new song, he’s really returning to his Fresh Prince roots, and perhaps on the cusp of a musical comeback, as well.

You can watch Will Smith’s 2024 BET Awards performance above and find the full list of 2024 BET Awards nominees and winners here.

Paul George will not be returning to Los Angeles next year. While we still await word on his actual destination in free agency — with the expectation being the Sixers will sign him, as no one else is really a possibility without a shocking sign-and-trade emerging — the Clippers released a lengthy statement on Sunday night from Lawrence Frank thanking George for his time in L.A. and confirming that after meeting on Sunday that George would not be back in a Clippers uniform.

I cannot remember another example of a statement like this getting released by a team before a player even signs somewhere else. You’ll see this for a guy that gets released or perhaps after someone signs elsewhere (usually a franchise legend), but in this case the Clippers wanted to get out in front of the news and make it clear that they’re moving forward without George.

Los Angeles has been busy on Sunday, even with George not coming back, as they went ahead and re-signed James Harden to a two-year, $70 million deal earlier on Sunday, signed Kevin Porter Jr. (who missed all of last season after an arrest for domestic assault) to a two-year deal, and are reportedly shopping Russell Westbrook after he picked up his player option. The Clippers will have their mid-level to work with, but could, like the Warriors appear to be doing as well after failing to trade for George on Saturday, look to dip under the tax this year to try and reset their repeater clock.

As for George, we await his announcement, but every indication is he’ll join Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and the Sixers in Philadelphia as he returns to the East.