Category: News

Takeoff was fatally shot in the early hours of November 1 while attending a private event with Quavo at 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston. The Atlanta rapper, best known as a member of the Migos, was 28. In the two months since, Houston Police have slowly pieced together what led to the tragedy.

Ultimately, on December 1, 33-year-old Patrick Xavier Clark was arrested and charged him with murder, with bond reportedly set at $2 million. Clark requested a bond reduction to $1 million, which was successful, though his subsequent request was not.

This morning, January 5, Houston’s KHOU is reporting that Clark posted $1 million bond last night and was released from prison. The Houston CBS affiliate cited court records.

According to an affidavit that surfaced in December, Quavo was participating in a dice game outside the venue when an argument broke out and shots were fired. Takeoff has been identified as an innocent bystander at separate points along the investigation.

Late Wednesday night, January 4, Quavo released a song dedicated to Takeoff, his nephew and musical collaborator. Titled “Without Out,” the somber track is simple in delivery but carries a heavy, heartbreaking message. “Tears rolling down my eyes / Can’t tell you how many times I cried / Days ain’t the same without you,” Quavo sings before recounting better days with Takeoff and wishing he “had a time machine, just so you can take a ride with me.”

Spotify Wrapped filled everyone’s social media feeds at the end of November, shortly following the popularity of the Instafest app that turned a user’s listening history into a festival lineup. Now, Spotify is introducing a new feature for music lovers to play around with: Playlist In A Bottle.

Playlist In A Bottle invites users to make playlists that will be locked until January 2024 — a sonic time capsule. It’s only available until the end of this month, so it’s time to get curating. Users will also be given choices of time capsules, such as a bottle, a jean pocket, a gumball machine, a lunch box, a teddy bear, and an acorn. Prompts will help the user pick songs, including a song you’d pay to hear for the first time again, a song you want to hear live this year, a song that won’t make any sense a year from now, and more. The feature is live on the Spotify app now.

The Instafest app was so successful last year that the realistic nature of the fake festival flyers fooled many fans on Twitter into thinking they were real. “Found out these musical festivals are just generated by oomfs spotifys why I looked up how to buy tickets….” one user wrote in a viral tweet.

The next season of Stranger Things will also be the last season. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer made the decision to end the Netflix series after five seasons because “we never wanted to run on fumes,” producer Shawn Levy explained, “and we wanted to only tell as much story as [we] saw and feel with clarity.” It also doesn’t help that the young cast, who play high school students, will be in their 20s by 2024. That includes Sadie Sink, a real-life Taylor Swift fan who plays Kate Bush stan Max on the show.

The Whale actress discussed the final season on Wednesday’s episode of Today. “It’s going to be awful. It’s going to be horrible. These kids, this entire cast and crew, this is, like — I mean, it’s family. People say it all the time, but I genuinely mean it,” she said. “And to think that we have to kind of say goodbye to that security and knowing that we won’t be seeing each other for another season, it’s scary and sad, but I think it’s exciting to move on to the next chapter.”

The next chapter for Stranger Things will be spinoffs, but the next chapter for Sink hopefully includes a role in Swift’s feature-length directorial debut.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

At the top of 2023, Netflix debuted Kaleidoscope, a new eight-episode series with a novel twist: the episodes can be watched in any order. One episode in particular sent One Direction fans on an emotional roller coaster when they saw a reference to the now-defunct boy band but realized the show got an important detail wrong.

In the episode titled “Green,” a criminal named Judy (played by Rosaline Elbay) tries to smuggle SIM cards to imprisoned boyfriend Stan (Peter Mark Kendall) (as Billboard notes). However, a guard catches Judy, so she bribes her with One Direction concert tickets. The scene includes a clear shot of the tickets, which are for a Madison Square Garden show on March 6, 2016. The problem: the group went on hiatus in December 2015 and was certainly not touring in 2016.

Fans of the group picked up on this and lamented the error on Twitter, with one writing, “IT HURTS BEING A DIRECTIONER.” Another tweeted, “i HAD to go back on kaleidoscope cause I KNEW I SAW ONE DIRECTION on those damn tickets. 2016? smh.” Somebody else had a different perspective, though, tweeting, “everyone thinks they messed up in kaleidoscope with the one direction ticket but what if it was intentional who’s to say she didn’t screw over the guard on purpose.”

Today, SZA is one of the most successful musical artists we have, as evidenced by SOS being the No. 1 album in the country right now. Years ago, though, she was just a high school student facing bullying. Today, SZA actually credits that experience with giving her the drive necessary to achieve all that she has.

In a new interview with People, SZA explained, “I was bullied because I wasn’t quiet and I was awkward at the same time. I wasn’t this tiny sad victim, but I was more so attacked just because it was giving ‘What is wrong with you?’ energy. I always thought, ‘Oh my God.’ I’ll never have the approval of anyone in life, this must be my defining factor, this must be the bottom line.”

She continued:

“I realized that all the things that made me feel so lame were actually what made me into who I am,” she says. “It’s like, I didn’t go to prom because I didn’t have any friends and I had no one to go to prom with. […] It’s so weird that my life turned into [having] a bodyguard while traveling to parties. All these things, if I had such a fulfilling existence and experience in high school, I would’ve felt validated to the point where I didn’t need to do anymore. I just had to do more, I had to be more, because I was like, ‘This sh*tty experience can’t be the end of it because if it is, I am cooked.’ “

Read more from the interview here.

Wednesday night proved to be a great one in the NBA, as a number of games came down to the final possession or overtime, despite not necessarily looking like a stacked slate on paper.

Among those was Warriors-Pistons, where Golden State was visiting the team holding the NBA’s worst record, but they quickly found themselves in a hole that they struggled to dig themselves out of. With 4.2 seconds to go, Golden State trailed by three and ran a gorgeous sideline play to get Klay Thompson a clean look for the game-tying three with one second left.

That seemed like it might force overtime, but Saddiq Bey had other ideas, as he took an inbound, spun around, and fired in the game-winning three at the buzzer to give Detroit its 11th win of the season in dramatic fashion.

Bey finished the game with 17 points, as he provided a big lift for Detroit off of the bench, while Bojan Bogdanovic paced the Pistons with 29 points as he continues to be a steady performer offensively. On the other side, Klay had 30 points to lead all scorers, continuing his hot streak of late, and Jordan Poole had 24, but they were the only two Warriors starters to reach double figures as they continue to miss Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins’ presence.

A little over a week ago, the news broke that Theophilus London was reported missing by his family. A statement said he was last heard from in July 2022. Now, the evening of January 4, it has been confirmed that London has been found.

On Twitter, the producer Machinedrum, whose real name is Travis Stewart, confirmed: “Theo has been found and is safe with family .”

Mikhail “DjKellz” Noel, London’s cousin, also confirmed the news.

The artist, who has collaborated with Tame Impala and Kanye West, had friends and fans worried after the release of last week’s statement about his unknown whereabouts.

“Over the last few weeks, friends and family of Theophilus London have been working together to piece together his whereabouts. The last time someone spoke with him reportedly stretches back to July 2022 in Los Angeles,” it read. “On December 27th, family members of Theophilus London traveled to Los Angeles to file a missing persons report with the LAPD. They are now seeking the public’s help with any information as to London’s whereabouts: ‘Theo, your Dad loves you, son. We miss you. And all your friends and relatives are searching for you. Wherever you are send us some signal. No matter what we will come get you son.’ – Lary Moses London, father of Theophilus London.”

The tragic death of Takeoff in November of last year shook the hip-hop world. Many rappers shared tributes to the late Migos member on social media, including Offset, Cardi B, Metro Boomin, and many more. Some even released songs in his honor, like Gucci Mane with “Letter To Takeoff.”

Quavo, who was not only his fellow Migos member but his uncle, started his written tribute to Takeoff with, “It’s so hard to tell you Ima miss you because you always with me and we did everything together.” Posted in November, the whole message was emotional, raw and powerful.

Late Wednesday night, January 4, Quavo shared a song for Takeoff called “Without You.” It’s immediately vulnerable: “Tears rolling down my eyes / Can’t tell you how many times I cried / Days ain’t the same without you,” he sings. The track serves as a space for Quavo to grieve; he recollects old memories with Takeoff against a melancholy beat. There’s hope as well, as he sings, “See you in heaven.”

Quavo was attending a private event with Takeoff when he was fatally shot outside 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston on November 1. Houston Police arrested his suspected killer, Patrick Xavier Clark, one month later. Clark is being held on bond, though he has made repeated attempts to reduce his bond.

Takeoff’s funeral felt more like a celebration of life, taking place at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and featuring performances from Justin Bieber, Chloe Bailey, Yolanda Adams, and Byron Cage. Drake, Cardi B, Gucci Mane, City Girls, YG, Russell Simmons, and Lil Yachty were also in attendance.

Listen to “Without You” above.

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

The Republican Party kicked off the new year the only way they know how: by sowing chaos. This time, however, it’s largely self-contained. A small but pivotal cadre of MAGA lawmakers who won’t let former Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy get promoted. It’s taken two days and six separate votes and they still can’t elect a new Speaker of the House. And if Lauren Boebert’s fight with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night is any indication, this is far from over.

Boebert is among the 20 House Republicans adamantly against McCarthy getting the gig, despite two years of him appeasing the MAGA extremist wing of his party. She’s not budging for anybody — not for her former bestie Marjorie Taylor Greene, not even for Donald Trump himself, who’s begged her to flip-flop. When she appeared on Hannity on the second day of the House mess, it didn’t take long for the tussle to begin.

“Let me turn the tables, congresswoman,” Hannity charged. “Kevin McCarthy has 202–3 votes. Your side has 20. So, if I’m gonna use your words, and your methodology, and your math, isn’t it time for you to pack it in and your side to pack it in considering he has over 200 and you have 20?”

At first Boebert tried to mollify him, saying, “Sean, I understand the frustration, I promise you.” But the two quickly started talking over each other. As she claimed there were plenty of McCarthy voters who secretly sided with her faction and are “waiting for Kevin to cave,” Hannity told her he was “frustrated by you not answering a direct question.” As she kept barreling over his points, he let out a testy “Can I finish?”

Soon they were debating over cold hard numbers:

HANNITY: He has 203. Your side has 20. Why is it time for him to withdraw and not you when he has so many more votes?

BOEBERT: Well, Sean, he needs 218 and he does not have 218.

HANNITY: Neither do you!

Eventually he asked if her side would relent if they couldn’t find an alternate candidate who can get at least 30 votes. She replied, “I will not withdraw.”

“With all due respect,” Hannity told her, “If you only have 30, to be clear, you will not withdraw, but you’re telling Kevin McCarthy and the 203 people that support him to withdraw because they don’t have 218. That’s what you’re saying?”

“Look, it’s obvious by tonight’s motion to adjourn that Kevin McCarthy and his supporters have voter fatigue,” Boebert replied. “And I’m here for it.”

“I asked you a simple question, congresswoman,” Hannity said. “I feel I’m getting an answer from a liberal.”

Boebert responded, “I’m not going to support Kevin McCarthy, Sean.”

Republicans are known to tussle with Democrats, so seeing two intransigent squabblers from the same party get into it was really something else. And people (read: non-Republicans) were here for it.

As Ken Watanabe says in the 2014 Godzilla: Let them fight.

(Via Mediaite)

Cardi B has earned her wealth, and she doesn’t intend on recklessly spending just because she can. Apparently, some people find pleasure in criticizing Cardi for her finances — from the $1 million she pocketed for a 35-minute Art Baset set to her (falsely) reported $40 million net worth. This week, Cardi chimed in on the soaring grocery prices across the US.

“Naaaaaa grocery shopping prices are ridiculous right now,” Cardi tweeted yesterday, January 3. “You might as well eat outside !!” She added in a separate tweet, “B*tch why lettuce cost 6 dollars where I live at?”

Some tweeters didn’t understand why someone as successful as Cardi would care about $6 lettuce, and Cardi had an answer for them tonight, January 4:

“Let me tell you somethin’: When I be complaining about food prices, and y’all motherf*ckers be like, ‘Ain’t you rich? Why you complaining about this?’, that just goes to show me, when you become successful, when you have money, you gonna go broke soon because y’all not budgeting,” Cardi said in a video she deemed a “PSA.”

She continued, “I get a summary of the money that’s being spent in my home every week. So, when I’m starting to see that groceries is, like, tripling up, it’s like, ay, yo, what the f*ck is going on? I wanna see for myself what the f*ck sh*t is being spent on, and when I go to the f*cking supermarket — I went to the supermarket — I’m seeing that everything tripled up. That lettuce was, like, $2 a couple of months ago, and now, it’s like f*cking $7. Of course, I’ma say something! The f*ck! ‘Cause if I think that sh*t is crazy, I can only imagine what middle-class people or people in the hood is motherf*cking thinking. So, yes, I’m going to say something. The f*ck! And I have a big platform, so I do want anybody that’s responsible [for] these f*cking prices to put that sh*t the f*ck down.”

Stars, they’re just like us.

When someone suggested that Cardi can’t single-handedly reverse inflation, she responded, “Not necessarily cause of me but if we bring enough awareness to inflation you never know.”

Who can be mad at her for trying?

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.