Month: October 2024

Following Liam Payne’s shocking death earlier this month, every One Direction album resurfaced on the Billboard 200. Soon, the first posthumous single from the singer will hit the charts as well.

“Do No Wrong” is a collaboration between Payne and Grammy-winning producer Sam Pounds. It comes out on Friday, November 1.

“I pray that this will be a blessing to the world like Liam has always dreamed,” Pounds wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I pray angels will comfort you all everyday while listening. I pray that this song will be a blessing to Ruth, Bear, and the entire family.” (Ruth is Liam’s sister, and Bear is his seven-year-old son.) He continued, “I pray that this song eclipses the negative echoes. I pray supernatural positive healing power will embrace each and every one of you.”

Payne died on October 16 after falling off a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur hotel in Palermo, Buenos Aires. The cause of death was determined to be “polytrauma and internal and external bleeding,” according to the autopsy report, while “a series of substances were seized from the musician’s room, which would prove a previous situation of alcohol and drugs consumption.”

You can find more information on “Do No Wrong,” including how to pre-save the song, here.

Before the second game of the World Series this past weekend, Ice Cube stood before the Dodger Stadium crowd in Los Angeles and performed his classic hit “It Was A Good Day.” So, when Game 3 of the series between the LA Dodgers and the New York Yankees shifted back to NYC yesterday (October 28), the Yankees had an answer.

As the New York Post notes, Joe Torre, CC Sabathia, Gary Sheffield, Dave Winfield, and Derek Jeter, the latter of whom threw out the ceremonial first pitch, participated in pre-game festivities. Then there was Bronx native Fat Joe, who delivered renditions of “Lean Back” and “All The Way Up.”

However, the consensus appears to be that Joe’s part didn’t go so well: Following the performance, Joe was one of the top-trending topics on X (formerly Twitter), and not because people were flooding the platform with praise.

One user wrote, “I’m not a hater, BUT Fat Joe opening up for the Yankees might be one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. I think they got him on SALE 50% OFF.” Somebody else said, “Fire whoever from the Yankees thought that was a good idea to have Fat Joe do whatever that was. I’m literally speechless at wtf I just watched. We don’t even deserve to win after that performance. George Steinbrenner would ban Fat Joe from Yankee Stadium after that.”

Another user wrote, “Me checking Twitter to make sure I’m not the only one who thought that Fat Joe intro was a miss.”

The Yankees would go on to lose the game 4-2, falling to 0-3 in the best-of-7 series.

Watch a video of Joe’s performance above.

To echo online discourse and the words of UPROXX’s music news editor Derrick Rossignol, Chappell Roan, and her own words, she is over pop stardom.” However, the pop music listeners are far from through with the “Hot To Go!” singer’s music.

Today (October 28), Chappell Roan earned her very first Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified platinum single. As pointed out by Pop Crave, Chappell Roan’s beloved song “Good Luck, Babe!” has hit the 1,000,000 copies sold.

On RIAA’s online database (viewable here) the metrics for “Good Luck, Babe!” has been update since its last tracking. Back on May 29, “Good Luck, Babe!” was listed as gold (500,000 copies sold). Five months later and a massive boost in streams later, “Good Luck, Babe!” is now certified platinum.

“Good Luck, Babe!” wasn’t the only record in Chappell Roan’s discography to be updated by the RIAA. Chappell’s latest studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, was also certified gold. In additional to the album’s certification, several of the album’s featured songs have also listed as gold including “Red Wine Supernova,” “Hot To Go!,” “Pink Pony Club,” and “Casual.”

With Chappell Roan steady teasing new music, these professional accomplishments are right on time.

According to reports, a biopic chronicling DMX’s life is in the works. But that isn’t the only project honoring the late rapper slated to drop.

According to Billboard, a second posthumous album from DMX is on the way. The eight track body of work, titled Let Us Pray: Chapter X, supposedly will be released on December 13.

The follow-up to Exodus is slated to featured guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, Killer Mike, Terrace Martin, LeCrae, MC Lyte, and more.

While Exodus was produced by Swizz Beats, Warryn Campbell will take over the role for Let Us Pray: Chapter X. In a statement, Campbell talked about the album.

“Working on Let Us Pray: Chapter X has been one of the most fulfilling experiences for me as a creative,” he said. “When you hear the voice of DMX, it inspires instant creativity and what better way to showcase who X really was than through prayer.”

Tracklist

1. “Favor” featuring Killer Mike, Mary Mary, & RoyzNoyz Orchestra
2. “Bear With Me” featuring LeCrae
3. “One Life To Do It” featuring MC Lyte & RoyzNoyz Orchestra
4. “Until I’m Gone” featuring Snoop Dogg, Terrace Martin, and Lena Byrd Miles
5. “Favor” (Instrumental)
6. “Bear With Me” (Instrumental)
7. “One Life To Do It” (Instrumental)
8. “Until I’m Gone” (Instrumental)

Let Us Pray: Chapter X is due out 12/13 via Def Jam/UMe. Find more information here.

Over the weekend, Sin City experienced an angelic shift. On October 26, Adele and Celine Dion came face-to-face during the “Chasing Pavements” latest Weekends with Adele show.

Immediately after making eye contact the two vocals burst into tears. Today (October 28), Adele reflected on their emotional embrace in a heartfelt note posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“I have been performing in Celine Dion’s room at the Colosseum for almost 2 years now (4 weeks to go),” she wrote. “It was the only venue I wanted to play in Vegas because it was built for her. I have a picture of her right next to the stage that I touch every night before I walk on, and she came to the show this weekend, and it was a surprise, and it was a MOMENT!”

Adele then turned her focus onto Celine, writing: “Celine Dion, I love you so very, very much. Words will never sum up what you mean to me, or what you coming to my show means, let alone how it felt seeing you back in your palace with your beautiful family. I have loved being there it has been such an honor and Saturday night will be something I remember forever and ever. Such a full circle moment for me to be there with you. Thank you so much.”

Beyoncé is an international superstar. As a result of the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer’s fame, her three children were thrust into the spotlight. But her oldest offspring, Blue Ivy, has grown a cult like following online. Despite Beyoncé’s icon status there’s still one thing just outside of her grasp.

According to Billboard, Beyoncé’s fight to trademark her eldest daughter Blue Ivy’s name hasn’t come to an end. The outlet claims that the entertainer’s company, BGK Trademark Holdings, LLC, continues to fight to secure the intellectual property rights across the board.

Last week, BGK Trademark Holdings reportedly filed a motion with the federal trademark office to have the securement of Blue Ivy’s name. The only problem is a children’s boutique in Wisconsin currently owns the trademark for Blue Ivy for retail store services featuring clothing, jewelry, home and clothing accessories, and giftware. This has held up Bey’s company application up in the same sector.

The company previously secured protection for a host of other sectors (viewble here). But Beyoncé’s attorneys refuse to give up. Within the paperwork, they doubled down on their efforts, writing: “No reasonable consumer would ever suffer any form of confusion when encountering the [store’s] logo, which is used with one small shop in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community with a population of approximately 997 people,” Beyoncé’s attorneys write. “Nor would a reasonable consumer encounter the ‘Blue Ivy Carter’ mark and conclude that the famous Carter family had teamed up with a small shop in rural Wisconsin to launch a clothing line.”

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Jay-Z explained why the couple filed their initial trademark application. “People wanted to make products based on our child’s name,” he said. “You don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name. It wasn’t for us to do anything; as you see, we haven’t done anything.”

European Oasis fans could be in luck. Back in August, the band announced their highly anticipated reunion with a slew of shows across England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. However, due to the demand many fans were left high and dry after Oasis Live ’25 went on sale.

But according to BBC, Oasis’ promotional team is ready to take action. In a recent piece, the outlet alleged that Oasis’ promoters, Live Nation, and SJM are looking to cancel up to 50,000 tickets for their UK tour dates to combat ticket scalping.

Of the 1.4 million tickets sold, BBC alleged that 4% of those tickets “went to resale websites,” which Oasis has urged supporters not to patronize. Now, a Live Nation spokesperson expressed their intention to “invalidate” those tickets.

“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against secondary ticketing companies reselling tickets for huge profit,” said the rep. “All parties involved with the tour continue to urge fans not to purchase tickets from unauthorized websites as some of these may be fraudulent and others subject to cancellation.”

But notable reseller Viagogo is pushing back against Live Nation’s stance, saying: “Two percent of Oasis tickets are on Viagogo and Stubhub. We will continue to sell them in the way the regulator says we can. We are serving a clear consumer need, we will continue doing it on that basis.”

Ticket holders are urged to check their point of purchase to check the validity of their ticket.

The Philadelphia 76ers were able to pick up their first win of the season on Sunday night. With Joel Embiid and Paul George both working their way into playing shape, Tyrese Maxey went for 45 points as the team picked up a 118-114 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers to move to 1-2 at this early point in the NBA calendar.

Despite the fact that Embiid watched the game from the sideline, the league announced on Monday evening that he was assessed a postgame technical foul towards the end of the game. It’s for one of the sillier things that can lead to you getting called for a tech, as Embiid stood in the corner and waved a towel around while Pacers guard Andrew Nembard attempted to shoot a free throw with 16 seconds left in the game, which he missed.

Whether or not Nembhard missed because Embiid was over in the corner waving a towel is unclear — he did end up making his second attempt from the charity stripe. Ultimately, this will go down as a pretty silly thing that happens in the early portion of the season, in large part because Embiid managed to pick up a technical foul before he was able to step on the floor this season.

The WNBA is headed into a really important next year-plus, as the 2025 season will be the last one under the current CBA after the WNBPA triggered their opt-out clause. With the league growing both literally (the Golden State Valkyries join in 2025, Toronto and Portland join in 2026) and figuratively (2024 broke ratings records), there is increased pressure on teams to capitalize on this moment and build a winner.

That has led to a rather wild first few weeks of the offseason in which seven of the league’s 13 teams (including the Valkyries) are without a head coach. The Sparks started things off by firing Curt Miller after two seasons, followed by the Sky firing Teresa Weatherspoon (to the dismay of Angel Reese), the Dream fired Tanisha Wright, the Wings fired Latricia Trammell, the Mystics fired Eric Thibault (and GM Mike Thibault), the Fever fired Christie Sides, and, most recently, the Sun “parted ways” with Stephanie White. All of that is to say, more than half of the league is without a head coach in one of the craziest coaching carousels in any sport in recent memory.

What makes this cycle all the more incredible is that the only hire so far this offseason has been by the Valkyries, who hired Natalie Nakase as the team’s first head coach. Usually when you get an extremely volatile coaching carousel it’s because a couple active coaches get poached by another team, setting off a domino effect. However, none of the vacancies in the WNBA are because another team hired someone away, it’s just mass turnover — although, there’s been speculation White could be leaving Connecticut for Indiana.

In any case, benches around the WNBA will look awfully different next year, and we might have a lot of new blood entering the WNBA head coaching ranks.

With Howard University celebrating its 100th Homecoming celebration in 2024, Director of Bands Chancellor Mills was searching for the perfect opportunity to impact the program in his first year on the job.

College bands are equal parts technical exhibition and pageantry and HBCUs like Howard are well known for consistently raising the bar with their “Showtime” Marching Band playing everything from Thanksgiving Day Parades to NFL games to Presidential inaugurations. But how high could they go for the 100th? Enter legendary hip-hop producer Just Blaze and UPROXX, who teamed with Mills to find out in a new series made possible by State Farm.

As you can see in the first episode which kicks off the series, Mills is feeling the pressure at the start of this mission. “You only get one chance to do the 100th,” he tells our cameras. But with Just Blaze supplying a brilliant blend of bombastic beats, the big band horns and chattering tenor drum sets ease any nervousness.

Even a seasoned icon like Just Blaze – who has worked with everyone from JAY Z to to Eminem to Beyonce – is pumped to see his hits reimagined in such a unique way, telling us that this collab was something his music was made for. See for yourself and keep an eye out for further installments in this series as Mills, Just Blaze, and the Howard band amaze and astonish.