The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Bas, Latto, Lil Dicky and more.

With just three weeks left in 2023, it looks like all the big releases are behind, but there are still plenty of new projects and singles skimming radar altitude, along with the usual assortment of late-year surprises. Those surprises have included the following:

Megan Thee Stallion teamed up with pop breakout Reneé Rapp for the disco-accented Megan Girls soundtrack single “Not My Fault“:

Lil Dicky gave fans an early Christmas gift: the official release of “Mr. McAdams” from season three of Dave:

And Lil Baby released two new singles to realign for a major comeback in 2024.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending December 15, 2023.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

ASAP Twelvyy — Kids Gotta Eat Da Deluxe

If you missed the Harlem rapper’s original release back in June, have no fear. While rap fans wait for ASAP Rocky’s return, Twelvyy offers plenty of the same swagger, going from sunset cruisers like “Venetian Rose” to stripped-down boom-bap to the familiar sample-trap of ASAP reunion cut “Yams.”

Bas — We Only Talk About Real Sh!t When We’re F*cked Up

The Dreamville Lieutenant’s year-long rollout culminates in another soulful, introspective release full of Bas’ Queens-bred lyrical flourishes and intriguing sonic experiments incorporating tropical flair (“Passport Bros”), Jersey Club (“179 Deli”), and African sounds (“Khartoum”).

Gucci Mane & B.G. — Choppers & Bricks

B.G.’s only been out of prison for three months, but he’s already hit the ground running. Who better to match his prolific energy than Gucci Mane, who had a similar run upon his own release from prison six years ago. Their chemistry is impressive and the best could knock art off the walls.

Paul Wall — The Great Wall

The Texas fixture drops another album of easygoing braggadocio filled with appearances from both fellow legends and rising Lone Star talents. That Mexican OT has earned his spot on “Covered In Ice,” and makes the most of the local legend’s co-sign.

Trae Tha Truth — Slow Motion Director’s Cut

Another deluxe edition and another Texas legend. Something about Trae’s appearance here feels ordained. While all of the original solo Stuck In Motion tracks appear here, the highlight is hearing Trae’s nimble flow traipse along ably beside coworkers like B.G., Curren$y, and Jay Worthy.

Singles/Videos

Big KRIT — “My Sub Pt. 6”

You have to admire the consistency with which the Mississippi rapper has stuck to this bit over the past decade-plus. It has been a reliable source of creative inspiration and he’s kept up the motif of using his car’s subwoofer as a metaphor.

Luh Tyler — “The Grinch Freestyle” Feat. Latto

Luh Tyler recruits Latto for assistance on his holiday-themed single, “The Grinch Freestyle.” Their back-and-forth antics are matched by the erratic visuals of the accompanying music video, and Latto and Tyler continue to be among hip-hop’s hottest rising stars.

Reuben Vincent — “Fufu”

The 9th Wonder protege finds inpiration in both traditional African music and food for his latest single. Named after the West African pounded meal of cassava, plaintain, and yam, the single evokes the comfors of home and stresses the importance of staying grounded and how hard work pays off.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A new camera developed at MIT can photograph a trillion frames per second.

Compare that with a traditional movie camera which takes a mere 24. This new advancement in photographic technology has given scientists the ability to photograph the movement of the fastest thing in the Universe, light.

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The actual event occurred in a nano second, but the camera has the ability to slow it down to twenty seconds.

For some perspective, according to New York Times writer, John Markoff, “If a bullet were tracked in the same fashion moving through the same fluid, the resulting movie would last three years.”

In the video below, you’ll see experimental footage of light photons traveling 600-million-miles-per-hour through water.

It’s impossible to directly record light so the camera takes millions of scans to recreate each image. The process has been called femto-photography and according to Andrea Velten, a researcher involved with the project, “There’s nothing in the universe that looks fast to this camera.”

(H/T Curiosity)

This article originally appeared on 09.08.17

As any “X-Files” will tell you, mystery is a major part of the show’s intrigue. After all, Agent Mulder and Scully dealt with some new kind of paranormal phenomenon every episode.

But it’s usually not a mystery centered around the show itself.

That is, unless we’re talking about a catchy country song that appears during the 5th episode of season 6, titled “Dreamland II,” which premiered in 1998. During the episode, Mulder gets body-swapped with an Area 51 employee at a dive bar, where the song plays in the background.

It was a song “so good” that Lauren Ancona tried to use her Shazam app to find its title. Only nothing came up. So then she tried to look up the lyrics. Still nothing. Finally she decided to look up the episode itself.

That’s when she realizes she was stumbling upon a decades long puzzle that even the most high tier “X-Files” aficionado couldn’t solve.

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Sharing this saga onto X, Ancona wrote, “apparently I’m not the only one that was like ‘dang that’s a good song’ because it’s mentioned on the IMDB page that nobody can find this silly song.”

just had the weirdest experience

was watching an X-files episode & there’s this country song playing in the background of the bar they’re in

& it’s so good it jars me out of my idle multitasking to Shazam it

except

— auntie cistamine (@laurenancona) December 5, 2023

Underneath her post she pasted a screenshot of a review where another person sought out this “lost song.” That was 25 years ago.

It didn’t take long for Ancona’s quest to blow up online. Tons of “X-Files” fans tried to sleuth their way towards answers with information provided by the episode’s end credits. They even tracked down a call sheet for the episode, a document which lists every single person behind a production for the episode that week.

Here’s a snippet of the episode in question, for reference:

Still, no real answers were found until the thread was eventually seen by a composer named Rob Cairns, who did in fact know the co-writer of the tune—Dan Marfisi.

Marfisi shared with NPR that Cairns reached out to him and said. “He said, ‘You might want to check out this Twitter thread, and if you jump in, you will be a hero,'”

“So I went and got my cape, and I logged on, and it was a party,” he quipped.

And now, finally, here’s the answer to this decades old riddle.

The song, written by Marfisi and Emmy winning Glenn Jordan, was titled “Staring at the Stars.” And the reason why no one could find it was because Marfisi and Jordan wrote the song specifically for that scene.

“We had a directive to write something that would fit both an alien and a human being,” Marfisi told NPR. “And we kind of looked up in the sky and said, what’s up there besides aliens? And we found stars … that was our brainstorming session.” The song was then produced in around four hours.

And now, thanks to the collective efforts of fans, combined with the power of the internet, all have this newly recorded version of the song to enjoy.

The “X-files” always taught us that the truth is out there. Guess that wisdom still holds up.

Forcing a kid to sit on Santa’s lap, even when it makes them clearly uncomfortable, might have been a holiday tradition once upon a time. But today, in an age where many, if not most parents advocate for their child’s boundaries, it’s an automatic naughty-list move.

And that’s why people are applauding one Santa’s perfect display of respect for a little girl named Adley, who gave him a firm “no” after he asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap. Their viral exchange became a simple, but effective lesson in consent.

Katie Love, Adley’s mom, was so impressed with what Santa told her that she asked him to repeat the message so she could record it, according to Today.com.

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“I said, ‘This is her body, and she’s in control of her body,’” Santa explains. “I asked if she wanted to sit on my lap, and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Way to stand up for yourself. And way to say what you believe is true.’”

Watch:

@katielovesocial This response was 🔥Thank you Santa for respecting my daughter’s choice & even applauding her for it!🎄🎅 #toddlersoftiktok #santaclaus #christmastiktok #toddlersbelike #adviceforgirls #importantmessage #toddlermom #toddlertok #wholesomemoments #femaleempowerment #girlpower #bodyautonomy ♬ original sound – Katie Love

He reiterated that the rule goes even for Santa Claus. No means no.

The clip quickly amassed 2 million views on TikTok, with hundreds praising this Santa for his thoughtfulness.

“We love an educated Santa,” one of the top comment read.

Another person wrote, “he’s meant for this job. He’s a good one.”

Others chimed in with agreement of his sentiment.

“I love this. No reason to pressure her to feel uncomfortable for a picture,” one person said. So true. And odds are, you won’t even get a good picture as your kid is traumatized, anyway.

Speaking of uncomfortable, several folks wondered if poor Adley was still not very happy, judging by her awkward look in the video. Some thought she didn’t like Santa’s hand being on her shoulder.

As Love explained to Today.com, it actually had more to do with wondering if she’d still get the purple bike she asked for since she didn’t sit in Santa’s lap.

“But you can see her start to smile when he reaffirmed her reaction and told her that it was OK to say no,” she said.

Santa is, by all intents and purposes, a figure created for children’s enjoyment. A benevolent character who instills good values. This new-age version is doing just that—perhaps even more so than his predecessors—since he honors their agency, and therefore, their wellbeing. May he receive extra blessings this Christmas by instilling the power of consent into all the kids he’s interacting with.

Over the past few years, one of the most significant contributors to the increase in the cost of living in the U.S. has been skyrocketing rent and housing prices. A big reason for the rise is the lack of housing supply. Estimates show that Americans need to build around 6 million more housing units for supply to meet demand.

If we are going to build more housing units, About Here’s founder urban planner Uytae Lee, suggests that the U.S. and Canada focus on building more non-market co-op units.

He lays out his theory in a video entitled “The Non-Market Solution to the Housing Crisis.”

To illustrate his point, he highlights two apartment buildings side by side in the up-and-coming Olympic Village neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada. In one building, the average rent for a 2 bedroom is $4,500. However, in the building across the street, a 2-bedroom unit only costs $1900 a month.

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“So how is this building so affordable? Well, it’s really quite simple. It doesn’t make money,” Lee says. “This building is owned by the Athletes Village housing co-op, a non-profit cooperative. Like the name suggests, the co-op isn’t trying to make a profit from this building. So it sets rents that only cover the building’s operating costs, things like heat, water, electricity, taxes, mortgage payments and maintenance.”

“The building next door is a condo that is owned by an individual or corporation who very much wants to make some money from their housing,” Lee continues. “So they can rent it out for well really whatever price they can get. Any money they make on top of their operating costs is the profit they can pocket for themselves.”

Co-ops are often owned by charities, churches and nonprofit organizations that understand housing is a need and want it to be part of their larger mission. There are co-ops for various demographics, whether seniors, refugees, or college students.

If a private building owned by a landlord were constructed simultaneously, their rents would be similar. However, a co-op can lower rent over time while market pressures and profit motives drive the private building upwards.

As market value in a neighborhood increases, landlords raise rent. However, co-ops keep rent at the same level as long as costs remain stable. Further, after the mortgage on the co-op is paid off, its expenses are drastically reduced so that the rent can be lowered.

“Non-market housing promises a home at a stable price right now and an affordable price in the long term,” Lee says.

When there is an abundance of co-ops in a given area, they also have a positive effect on market housing. Lee cites Vienna as an excellent example of non-market housing keeping market rents low. “Private landlords have to compete with non-market housing for the same tenants. They can’t afford to inflate the rents because people will apply for the non-market housing next door, where rents can be as low as €551 a month.”

Just as there are barriers to building large private housing projects in North America, building non-market housing also has its problems. The first is cost. Finding non-profits or government agencies willing to fund an entire apartment building is tough. It’s also hard to get housing projects approved when co-ops have to go up against NIMBYs and housing zoning regulations.

“I think first and foremost we need to change these rules and make it easier to build housing in general,” Lee says.

In the end, Lee believes co-op housing isn’t a magic bullet that will solve all our woes. But it should be an integral part of a larger solution. “I think we should be treating all market housing as an important counterbalance,” Lee says. “Something that limits people’s ability to exploit the housing shortage in two key ways: adding more supply and setting rents that help to stabilize the overall housing market — sending a reminder to all of us that housing is ultimately for people, not profits.”

Forcing a kid to sit on Santa’s lap, even when it makes them clearly uncomfortable, might have been a holiday tradition once upon a time. But today, in an age where many, if not most parents advocate for their child’s boundaries, it’s an automatic naughty-list move.

And that’s why people are applauding one Santa’s perfect display of respect for a little girl named Adley, who gave him a firm “no” after he asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap. Their viral exchange became a simple, but effective lesson in consent.

Katie Love, Adley’s mom, was so impressed with what Santa told her that she asked him to repeat the message so she could record it, according to Today.com.

---

“I said, ‘This is her body, and she’s in control of her body,’” Santa explains. “I asked if she wanted to sit on my lap, and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Way to stand up for yourself. And way to say what you believe is true.’”

Watch:

@katielovesocial This response was 🔥Thank you Santa for respecting my daughter’s choice & even applauding her for it!🎄🎅 #toddlersoftiktok #santaclaus #christmastiktok #toddlersbelike #adviceforgirls #importantmessage #toddlermom #toddlertok #wholesomemoments #femaleempowerment #girlpower #bodyautonomy ♬ original sound – Katie Love

He reiterated that the rule goes even for Santa Claus. No means no.

The clip quickly amassed 2 million views on TikTok, with hundreds praising this Santa for his thoughtfulness.

“We love an educated Santa,” one of the top comment read.

Another person wrote, “he’s meant for this job. He’s a good one.”

Others chimed in with agreement of his sentiment.

“I love this. No reason to pressure her to feel uncomfortable for a picture,” one person said. So true. And odds are, you won’t even get a good picture as your kid is traumatized, anyway.

Speaking of uncomfortable, several folks wondered if poor Adley was still not very happy, judging by her awkward look in the video. Some thought she didn’t like Santa’s hand being on her shoulder.

As Love explained to Today.com, it actually had more to do with wondering if she’d still get the purple bike she asked for since she didn’t sit in Santa’s lap.

“But you can see her start to smile when he reaffirmed her reaction and told her that it was OK to say no,” she said.

Santa is, by all intents and purposes, a figure created for children’s enjoyment. A benevolent character who instills good values. This new-age version is doing just that—perhaps even more so than his predecessors—since he honors their agency, and therefore, their wellbeing. May he receive extra blessings this Christmas by instilling the power of consent into all the kids he’s interacting with.

Moms can be a little weird sometimes, which really isn’t much of a secret. Something happens when you have a baby. There’s this overwhelming desire to hold onto every piece of your baby’s existence from the moment they enter the world. For some people it’s hanging on to the tiny hospital bands that adorned their little ankles or the outfit they wore home from the hospital.

But there’s a group of moms that take baby keepsakes to a different level and the group is probably much larger than people realize. Somewhere in a plastic baggie or glass jar is an umbilical cord stump that was once attached to the belly of a baby. This last physical piece of baby’s connection to mom is coveted by some and one dad didn’t realize how important it was until he threw it away.

A couple who recently welcomed a brand new baby girl uploaded a video to social media showing Kaylee Dudley’s reaction to news their baby lost her umbilical cord. Turns out Dudley wanted to keep it.

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Dudley asks her husband, “where’s her belly button,” clearly confused. The new dad explains that it fell off when he was changing the baby’s diaper so he threw it away. It didn’t take long before the mom was digging in the kitchen trash trying to find the little stump to keep forever. While this reaction seemed to baffle the dad, women in the comments were shocked he would commit such an egregious sin.

“‘I threw it away’ EVERY mom just gasped,” one person writes.

“Saved them from all my babies, I had to get my youngest son’s out of the trash after the Dr pulled it off with a tissue and tossed it,” another woman says.

“I gasped at the same time she gasped when you said it was in the trash my family also saves them! Hahaha,” a commenter reveals.

But not everyone thinks this practice is normal. Some people said their mom still has theirs even though they’re adults and other’s simply don’t understand why anyone would keep such a thing.

@kayandtayofficial

How did I not know this was a thing? 😳😅 Backstory ::: We’ve had two great weeks with bean. I’ve learned a lot about taking care of a newborn. Before bean I had never even changed a diaper. 😂 While changing her, I noticed that her umbilical cord had fallen off in her clothing. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I finished changing her and threw it in the trash. This was a mistake. 😂 Apparently Kay had been waiting on it to fall off so that she could save it forever in a little plastic bag. I’m not sure why she wanted it so bad but she’s made it clear that it’s very important that she keeps it. Later while she was changing Ellie, she started yelling my name to come to her. She had noticed that her umbilical cord was missing and panicked. She then retrieved the umbilical cord from the trash and stored it safely in a little plastic bag. I’m so thankful that I put off taking out the trash. I hope that when bean grows up, she’s super excited to have a small dried fragment of her belly button. 😂 #kayandtayofficial #couples #relationships #pregnant #postpartum

“I have never saved any of that stuff. Not the first hair clippings, first tooth and not the cord lol. I have the kid. That’s good enough,” one mom writes.

“I’ve never heard of saving this. Like, it’s a decaying body part,” someone says.

Eh, to some a decaying body part to others it’s the last thing that connected them to their baby physically. No matter what you decide to do with the umbilical cord stump, just make sure you keep it out of reach of animals. A few commenters revealed their pets ran off with their child’s stump.

Moms can be a little weird sometimes, which really isn’t much of a secret. Something happens when you have a baby. There’s this overwhelming desire to hold onto every piece of your baby’s existence from the moment they enter the world. For some people it’s hanging on to the tiny hospital bands that adorned their little ankles or the outfit they wore home from the hospital.

But there’s a group of moms that take baby keepsakes to a different level and the group is probably much larger than people realize. Somewhere in a plastic baggie or glass jar is an umbilical cord stump that was once attached to the belly of a baby. This last physical piece of baby’s connection to mom is coveted by some and one dad didn’t realize how important it was until he threw it away.

A couple who recently welcomed a brand new baby girl uploaded a video to social media showing Kaylee Dudley’s reaction to news their baby lost her umbilical cord. Turns out Dudley wanted to keep it.

---

Dudley asks her husband, “where’s her belly button,” clearly confused. The new dad explains that it fell off when he was changing the baby’s diaper so he threw it away. It didn’t take long before the mom was digging in the kitchen trash trying to find the little stump to keep forever. While this reaction seemed to baffle the dad, women in the comments were shocked he would commit such an egregious sin.

“‘I threw it away’ EVERY mom just gasped,” one person writes.

“Saved them from all my babies, I had to get my youngest son’s out of the trash after the Dr pulled it off with a tissue and tossed it,” another woman says.

“I gasped at the same time she gasped when you said it was in the trash my family also saves them! Hahaha,” a commenter reveals.

But not everyone thinks this practice is normal. Some people said their mom still has theirs even though they’re adults and other’s simply don’t understand why anyone would keep such a thing.

@kayandtayofficial

How did I not know this was a thing? 😳😅 Backstory ::: We’ve had two great weeks with bean. I’ve learned a lot about taking care of a newborn. Before bean I had never even changed a diaper. 😂 While changing her, I noticed that her umbilical cord had fallen off in her clothing. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I finished changing her and threw it in the trash. This was a mistake. 😂 Apparently Kay had been waiting on it to fall off so that she could save it forever in a little plastic bag. I’m not sure why she wanted it so bad but she’s made it clear that it’s very important that she keeps it. Later while she was changing Ellie, she started yelling my name to come to her. She had noticed that her umbilical cord was missing and panicked. She then retrieved the umbilical cord from the trash and stored it safely in a little plastic bag. I’m so thankful that I put off taking out the trash. I hope that when bean grows up, she’s super excited to have a small dried fragment of her belly button. 😂 #kayandtayofficial #couples #relationships #pregnant #postpartum

“I have never saved any of that stuff. Not the first hair clippings, first tooth and not the cord lol. I have the kid. That’s good enough,” one mom writes.

“I’ve never heard of saving this. Like, it’s a decaying body part,” someone says.

Eh, to some a decaying body part to others it’s the last thing that connected them to their baby physically. No matter what you decide to do with the umbilical cord stump, just make sure you keep it out of reach of animals. A few commenters revealed their pets ran off with their child’s stump.

We Northern Hemisphere folks are almost at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when we flip from our days growing darker to gaining more and more sunlight.

The winter solstice is a good reminder that darkness is a temporary state. It’s also a good time to slow down, get cozy and embrace the season for what it is. Put up more twinkle lights. Make a cup of tea or cocoa and sip it under a blanket. Light some candles and get your hygge on.

Embracing simple joys make the dark days a little brighter, and we’ve got some simple joys to get you started right here.

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Enjoy!

1. How fun are these Christmas Olympics game ideas?

See on Instagram

These would be so fun at any holiday party! Read the full story here.

2. Adam Driver gives hilarious impersonation of an ‘airplane baby’ having a tantrum on ‘SNL’

Adam Driver as we’ve never seen him before. Read the full story here.

3. Perhaps the best Golden Girls Gospel Remix lip sync yet

@tabitha.jack34

#fyp #motherdaughterfunny #friends #MyAngel #ShegoneKILLmeforpostingthis

The guy riffing the original can be seen here. This lip sync challenge was popularized early in the pandemic when we were trying to find ways to stay connected virtually, and she just absolutely nails this.

4. These kids on the bus cheering on Xavier, the ‘fasted kid alive’

Everyone needs this kind of cheering squad. Go Xavier, go!

4. People are sharing good things happening in America that are flying under the radar

The news may seem like nothing but doom and gloom, but there are good things happening all around us all the time. From huge leaps in disease treatments to threatened wildlife making a comeback to everyday people being awesome human beings, you can read about tons of good things happening here.

6. The beautiful thing that happens in Amsterdam if you die and have no one to attend your funeral

Leave it to the poets to find everyone’s humanity worth celebrating. The Lonely Funeral project enlists a poet to write a custom poem for people who don’t have any family or friends and read it at their funeral. The concept has now expanded to cities around the world. Read the full story of the Lonely Funeral project here.

7. Lonely baby camel, ‘Sir Camelot’ gets his very own best friend: A baby cow

Aw, Sir Camelot! Everyone needs a friend. Read the full story here.

8. The total and complete guilt on the face of these doggos

u201cOh no, we got caughtu201d ud83dude02

— (@)

That “save me” hug at the end, though. So hilarious.

9. The ‘last GenX playground’ has 40 and 50-somethings drowning in nostalgia

@over40_slbmom

Last GenX Playground!❤️ #genx #genxtiktokers #over50 #bestgenerationever #genxkid

Welcome to our childhood, youngsters! The slide that became a thousand degrees in the sun. The spinning seesaw that made kids puke. The wooden teeter-totter that made you see stars when someone jumped off and your butt hit the ground. Ah, the good ol’ days!

10. Doggo loses his mind with joy when he finds out he’s going to visit Grandma and Grandpa

@sky.q

The other video got a “sensitive content warning” because of the end… but why?? 😂 #repost #dogsofttiktok #dogs #australiancattledog #blueheeler #acd #heeler #cattledog

The flop for the belly rubs at the end? So darn sweet.

Hope that added a few smiles to brighten your day! If you’d like to receive posts like this one in your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.

In late October, Matthew Perry died of an apparent drowning at age 54. Six weeks later, the LA County Medial Examiner’s Office has revealed his full toxicology results, and drowning is now listed as a contributing factor in the Friends star’s fate. Additionally, the report lists “the acute effects of ketamine” as the primary cause along other contributing factors in his accidental death.

Via Variety:

Matthew Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Contributing factors in the “Friends” actor’s death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder). The manner of death was ruled an accident.

TMZ follows up with additional context, which suggests that the ketamine dosage that caused Perry’s death was self-administered and outside of the therapeutic dosage that he had received days before he passed out in a hot tub at his home:

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office just released the toxicology report, concluding Perry had taken ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety a week-and-a-half before his death. The ketamine in his system at the time of his death, however, “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.”

Following Perry’s death, even the most casual members of the Friends audience felt gutted, and his co-stars — Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Matt LeBlanc — have all paid tribute amid their ongoing grief.

(Via Variety & TMZ)