Year: 2024

Grimes claims she called things off with Elon Musk, not the other way around. Earlier this week, the “Flesh Without Blood” singer replied to a terrifying AI image of herself and rapper / frequent poster Azealia Banks as Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked. “Hate to say it but wouldve been kinda lit,” she wrote.

Banks very much disagrees.

“@Grimezsz girl the way u are still trying to hold out on some weird ass innocent bullsh*t years later after u got dumped, cheated on, ur kids kidnapped and still trying to paint me like the villian and act like ur above me when ur getting sonned by elons secretary, -when ur the one that *literally* did not make the f*cking music and Elon is the one who harvested ur eggs and took a picture of your c section is PEAK white female delusion,” she tweeted.

It goes on from there, but you get the idea. Anyway! Grimes defended her support of the tweet, calling it “just a funny joke bro. not trying to paint u as a villain.” She then acknowledged her relationship with her “unrecognizable” ex-partner Elon Musk, the richest person in the world:

“i didn’t ‘get dumped’. I bounced. My amazing baby is asleep in my bed beside me, I’m in love. no regrets. Life is as beautiful as u want it to be. Ur insanely talented. even after all this, I want u to win. god bless Mlad.”

Grimes also referred to Banks as the “da Vinci of insults” and “the best hater on the planet.” The same planet that Elon Musk has been accused of destroying, in fact!

Apologies to Mariah Carey, but Christmas is officially over for 2025. While the holiday will soon be a faded memory, it might be a time that’ll stick around in Dua Lipa’s brain for a good long while.

In an Instagram post reflecting on an enjoyable Christmas she had at home, one of the gallery’s photos attracted particular attention: She’s wearing a ring on that finger, which some commenters notices and interpreted to mean that Lipa and boyfriend (fiancé, perhaps?) Callum Turner got engaged.

A “source” supposedly told The Sun, “They are engaged and couldn’t be happier. Dua has had one of the best years of her career professionally and this is the cherry on the cake. Callum is such a solid support for Dua and they make a wonderful couple. Their family and friends are so happy. It’s been an amazing Christmas for them.”

As far as more concrete info, though, neither Lipa nor Turner have publicly addressed the supposed engagement.

Rumors that the two were dating started gaining traction in January, when they were spotted out and about together on a handful of occasions. Then, in July, the two went Instagram-official when Lipa shared photos of she and him together at Glastonbury.

Drake has had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, but he’s looking forward to righting the ship in 2025. He’s promised a joint album with PartyNextDoor, which could help him return to form after his late-2024 output failed to connect with audiences. Although they’ve missed their projected autumn release date, they’ve apparently been taking the slow-cooked approach to ensure that it lives up to Party’s promise that it’ll be a “classic.” We haven’t heard many updates, but during his livestream with Adin Ross, Drake shared some details of the album.

“Me and Party is, honestly, one of the projects I’m most proud of in my life,” he said. “I’ve always to wanted make a full album of our sound, Toronto sound, R&B. The best that both of us have to offer… The listening party has to be in the city.”

Drake could certainly use the goodwill. When even sports analysts like Stephen A. Smith and the Inside The NBA crew are criticizing his decision to get the courts involved in his feuds, it looks like his reputation needs a hard reset. You can argue about how effective doing a livestream with fellow Torontonian Adin Ross will be toward that end — it’s a friendly outlet, to be sure, but does little to address the “culture vulture” accusations leveled against him latelly — but at least he knows what his fans want. The real trick will be splitting the difference between them and the wider hip-hop audience.

Drake speaks on his PND collab album, that was supposed to drop December 6th🔥

He also confirmed he’s LOADED on new music in the vault 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZonemxoHAZ

— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) December 27, 2024

Drake has had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, but he’s looking forward to righting the ship in 2025. He’s promised a joint album with PartyNextDoor, which could help him return to form after his late-2024 output failed to connect with audiences. Although they’ve missed their projected autumn release date, they’ve apparently been taking the slow-cooked approach to ensure that it lives up to Party’s promise that it’ll be a “classic.” We haven’t heard many updates, but during his livestream with Adin Ross, Drake shared some details of the album.

“Me and Party is, honestly, one of the projects I’m most proud of in my life,” he said. “I’ve always to wanted make a full album of our sound, Toronto sound, R&B. The best that both of us have to offer… The listening party has to be in the city.”

Drake could certainly use the goodwill. When even sports analysts like Stephen A. Smith and the Inside The NBA crew are criticizing his decision to get the courts involved in his feuds, it looks like his reputation needs a hard reset. You can argue about how effective doing a livestream with fellow Torontonian Adin Ross will be toward that end — it’s a friendly outlet, to be sure, but does little to address the “culture vulture” accusations leveled against him latelly — but at least he knows what his fans want. The real trick will be splitting the difference between them and the wider hip-hop audience.

Drake speaks on his PND collab album, that was supposed to drop December 6th🔥

He also confirmed he’s LOADED on new music in the vault 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZonemxoHAZ

— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) December 27, 2024

Doechii’s incredible promotional run for Alligator Bites Never Heal keeps getting better — and it’ll apparently extend into the new year. The Swamp Princess teased the video for fan-favorite “Denial Is A River” on Twitter with a hilarious trailer utilizing the Family Matters theme song meme. Dropping on January 2, 2025, the video will apparently feature Baby Tate, DJ Miss Milan, Earl Sweatshirt (amusingly credited as “Brad Pitt”), Rickey Thompson, Schoolboy Q, SiR, Teezo Touchdown, and Zack Fox.

Doechii previously performed the song on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Genius’ Open Mic with Issa Rae, and in her NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. However, it really does not look like fans are going to tire of the witty track any time soon.

The breakout artist’s 2024 has seen her launch a sold-out headlining tour, steal the show at Tyler The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw, and give back to the community at TDE’s annual Christmas concert. From building buzz by flexing her freestyle skills with her Swamp Sessions to playing along with fans’ Hamilton jokes, Doechii owned the year… and looks to keep right on owning things in the new one.

Watch Doechii’s “Denial Is A River” video teaser with Baby Tate, DJ Miss Milan, Earl Sweatshirt, Rickey Thompson, Schoolboy Q, SiR, Teezo Touchdown, and Zack Fox below or here. You can watch the full video on 1/2/2025.

Denial Is A River Show | Premiering January 2nd 2025 pic.twitter.com/OM8u2mtGSR

— Swamp Princess🐊 (@officialdoechii) December 26, 2024

A judge ruled that Jay-Z’s sex assault accuser can remain anonymous despite the rapper’s insistence that she reveal her identity. According to Rolling Stone, Judge Analisa Torres also chastised the mogul’s lawyer Alex Spiro in her ruling, admonishing the attorney for using ad hominem attacks in his filings. Spiro had requested for the case to be dismissed, saying the accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, were trying to extort his client and countersuing for defamation.

“The relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks [on Buzbee] is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client,” wrote Torres, “The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”

Jay-Z himself issued a statement refuting the allegations against him, calling them “so heinous in nature” that he feels a criminal charge should have been filed instead. “My heart and support goes out to true victims in the world,” he wrote, “Who have to watch how their life story is dressed in costume for profitability by this ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.”

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, is one of many against Sean “Diddy” Combs alleging sexual misconduct (in this case, sexually assaulting the alleged victim at an MTV VMAs after-party in 2000, when she says she was just 13 years old), but it is the first to specifically mention Jay-Z as a co-defendant. In an interview, the Jane Doe victim acknowledged that her story has “inconsistencies,” which is no guarantee that the whole story is false, but has cast doubt on its veracity, according to Spiro.

Eminem and 50 Cent have been close friends for decades now, but somehow, the two have never sat down and made a full album together. Well, it turns out that’s not completely out of the question, at least from Eminem’s point of view.

In a recent interview on Shade 45, Eminem was asked about the idea of making an album with 50 and he said:

“That would be great. I think we just gotta stop bullsh*tting and just do it. […] I would never say it’s not possible.”

During that same interview, he also spoke about how he thinks Kendrick Lamar will fare at the 2025 Grammys, saying, “It’s very stiff competition. Kendrick is gonna sweep that sh*t. He’s going to, and he should.”

Meanwhile, in a recent interview, 50 spoke about why he doesn’t make much new music these days, saying, “My ideas are getting so big that it’s changing even how I can deliver things. I have to be conscious of what I’m saying or what I’m doing because the idea — it’s going to disrupt my idea. A lot of the music, if you listen to the music that’s out right now, I have to tap into my stupid. I have to tap into the stupid side of me to write the right thing when it comes time to write the music. This is why I haven’t created as much content as I was creating in the past.”

While making the promotional rounds for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (including talking to Uproxx about his favorite Dylan songs), Timothée Chalamet was interviewed by Nardwuar. They discussed everything from the actor’s “Timmy Tim” days to Canada to rapper Lil B, who Chalamet had a memorable encounter with when he was a teenager.

“I met him at NYU,” Chalamet told Nardwuar (who recently spoke to Chappell Roan as well). “I had $50 from a commercial I did, I bribed a kid to give me his ticket. I was in there alone, you know, front row to the right. I raised my hand, I got called on by him, [and] told him I was going to ask out a crush. He invited me on stage and he knighted me. And honestly, he said, ‘That boy’s hands been blessed,’ and from there, my acting career took off. Thank you, BasedGod. I was struggling before that, basically just done Royal Pains, and, you know, I was nominated for an Oscar by the time I was 22.”

Chalamet added, “Shout out, Lil B. Nothing possible without Lil B.”

You can watch Chalamet’s interview with Nardwuar above, and remember: keep on rockin’ in the free world (doot doo).

Since trade season officially kicked off in mid-December, one name — Jimmy Butler — has dominated the conversation as teams survey the landscape to find out what players that could truly move the needle might be available. The Miami Heat star is in the last year of his contract (with a player option for next year he is widely expected to decline) and has not gotten an extension offer from Miami that is in the ballpark of what he’s seeking for what is likely the final big contract of his career.

With the Heat pretty clearly in a tier below the contenders at the top of the Eastern Conference, rumors began swirling about their willingness to at least listen to offers for the star — along with a reported list of teams Butler preferred to be dealt to. Butler’s agent initially fired back at ESPN’s Shams Charania questioning the legitimacy of his reports, but Charania has been insistent on what he’s hearing. On Christmas, Charania added that Butler now preferred to be traded before the deadline — but had not issued a formal trade request.

A day later, Pat Riley decided to try his best to shut down all of the rumblings about Butler’s status, putting out a rare (and definitive) statement through the team to address a trade rumor.

“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear – We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

You certainly can’t be clearer than that, but unfortunately for Riley, I don’t think this will be the end of the Butler trade saga. If Charania is right and Butler has decided he would like a change of scenery, we have seen in the past that he is not afraid of making things uncomfortable to get what he wants. What makes this situation fascinating is Riley also doesn’t mind that, as evidenced by his comments this summer about Butler and extension talks, and we could be headed for a truly incredible game of chicken between Riley and Butler over the next month-plus. For now, though, we’ll just have to take the Heat boss at his word that Butler won’t be on the move, and now the ball is in Jimmy’s court with regards to how hard he wants to press the issue — if at all.

We last heard from Bad Bunny on his 2023 album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. Well, here’s some good, unexpected news: Benito has a new album coming out very soon, as today (December 26), he announced Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which is set for release on January 5. He also shared a new song, “Pitorro De Coco,” as well.

The Apple Music page for the album indicates the project will have 17 tracks, including the previously released “El Clúb.”

In an interview from February, Bunny revealed he was in Puerto Rico, writing music. He said, “I walk around with my phone and any time an idea or melody comes to me, I write it up in the Notes app and record a voice note.” He was also asked about the future of Puerto Rico, and he said, “Man, I love that you’re asking me about this because yesterday I was writing a song about this. I don’t know when this interview will be out so I can’t share much about it, but if we were talking in private, I’d tell you so much because I woke up at 4 a.m. in a dreamlike state and wrote a beautiful song about this.”

Listen to “Pitorro De Coco” above.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos is out 01/05/2025 via Rimas Entertainment. Find more information here.