Category: News

Rudy Giuliani just can’t win — though he’s only got himself to blame. The man once widely known as “America’s Mayor,” who was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2001, has devolved into an international laughingstock, for reasons far beyond confusing Philadelphia’s Four Seasons Hotel with a small landscaping outfit. His utter (and some might say misguided) devotion to Donald Trump and his election fraud lies could very well land the former New York City mayor in prison. But for now, they’ve seen Giuliani be stripped of his license to practice law in both New York and Washington, DC. Also revoked? The honorary degrees he was given by several colleges and universities, with only five of them still in place — though all that could soon change.

For more than a year, mortified students, faculty, and alumni at Syracuse University — which is one of those five schools — have been pressuring the administration to rescind Giuliani’s fake degree, to no avail. Now, The Daily Orange is reporting that the university’s Board of Trustees is currently discussing the possibility of finally distancing themselves from Giuliani for good. On Monday, during the first University Student Association meeting of the semester, school chancellor/president Kent Syverud told the students in attendance that he had again brought up the topic of Rudy’s honorific degree, and whether it should be invalidated.

The Student Association sent a formal request to the University Senate back in April, requesting that Giuliani’s degree be erased. Though no official decision was made at the time, Syverud was asked to research how other universities go about making these decisions, as this would be the first time in Syracuse University’s history that an honorary degree was revoked. As Sarah Wells wrote for The Daily Orange:

Following his research, Syverud said he plans to present his draft recommendation for standard practices to the board at the executive committee meeting in September. Following the meeting, he said he hopes the full board will vote on the matter in November.

(Via The Daily Orange)

When Kendrick Lamar dropped his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, one track, in particular, got fans’ attention straight out of the gate. Thanks to its unnervingly accurate depiction of a contentious domestic dispute, “We Cry Together” became a polarizing fan favorite — if I can use that term loosely. While some were uncomfortable with Kendrick’s and guest star Taylour Paige’s performances, others (including one very enthused security guard) praised them for bringing their actual experiences to life. Now, Kendrick’s gone one step further, releasing the accompanying short film for the first time since its June premiere in Los Angeles.

The short film is pretty much exactly what the song portrays: A couple in the midst of an explosive argument, trading acidic insults and disquieting threats. Kenny’s in character as a blue collar worker and the whole episode mostly takes place in the cramped confines of the couple’s living room as the toxic discussion unfolds. It ends, as the song does, with a messy, Insecure-esque sex scene that is, frankly, not safe for work at all. In a nice twist, though, the camera pulls back to reveal that the living room is indeed a movie set, giving viewers the opportunity to decompress as they realize it’s all just a production.

You can watch the “We Cry Together” music video/short film above.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

A few weeks before he announced his third studio album The Forever Story, JID tweeted an intriguing statement about his burgeoning popularity. “None of my rap co-workers be tryna rap wit me dawg,” he wrote. “I think y’all n****z is scared, I’m talking to bigger rap artists.” The Forever Story presents a wealth of compelling evidence to support that theory.

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that The Forever Story is the – as in singular, as in only – best-rapped album to come out in 2022. Present your arguments for whomever and however you see fit, but the Atlanta rapper’s project has at least one song to give it an edge over its qualified competitors.

I’ll go out even further on this narrow branch and say that JID belongs in the top five contemporary rappers discussion, and has since 2018 when he dropped DiCaprio 2. Since then, he’s followed up with the folksy Spilligion alongside his Spillage Village cohorts, utterly stolen the show on two Dreamville compilations, and made me enjoy an Imagine Dragons song.

So, why hasn’t JID gotten the recognition he deserves? There are a couple of reasons that spring to mind. First of all, JID has the unfortunate timing to have made his debut in a time slightly removed from the era where super technically skilled rappers could gain a lot of traction in a relatively short amount of time.

Think about the “blog era,” which spawned such lyrically-gifted standouts as Big KRIT, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, or Wale. Being a rapper’s rapper was prized at such a time because hip-hop goes through different cycles. There’d been a long lull in the priority of bars-first traditionalism, and the massive cultural shift toward blogs and weekly freestyles allowed artists like these to grab a lot of the spotlight.

That era came to an end in the middle of the last decade, as Chance The Rapper, who is probably the last of the blog era super rappers to get on, won his Grammy for Coloring Book. Then the Soundcloud era began, and colorful characters like Travis Scott who prized “vibes” over rhymes began to take center stage. JID is decidedly not one of those, but because he made his debut during that era, fans of hyper lyrical rappers likely wrote him off as just another punk kid.

Another reason might come directly from JID’s own words. One of the biggest drivers of any new – or even established – artist’s rise to stardom is the willingness of their peers to collaborate. Consider Lil Durk, who actually appears on The Forever Story on the song “Bruddenem.” He toiled on the underground scene for nearly a decade until Drake featured him on the 2020 standout “Laugh Now Cry Later.”

Now, Durk’s considered an A-lister, a hotly-demanded feature artist in his own right with numerous No. 1 albums under his belt. No one has yet done this for JID, aside from J. Cole, who hasn’t featured the younger MC on his own albums despite working with him on the Dreamville collabs on songs like “Stick.” Even if he did, JID’s an artist on his label, and would probably be subject to the “homie write-off” effect that plagued underlings in groups like Disturbing Tha Peace, St. Lunatics, and Roc-A-Fella. There’s only so much star power to go around, and artists can get overshadowed by their more famous labelmates.

Other rappers might really be nervous to feature JID, whose sheer force of persona could potentially overpower or overwhelm the sort of mainstream-friendly tracks it would take to expose him to a wider audience more used to party anthems than aggressive battle rap tracks.

Meanwhile, any rapper who considers themselves more lyrics-forward runs the risk of being “Renegaded” – the fan term for being outrapped on your own track, as applied to Jay-Z’s 2001 song “Renegade” from The Blueprint. When Eminem’s intricate, wordy verses seemed to tower over Jay’s more laid-back, heady ones, Nas ridiculed Jay, “Eminem killed you on your own sh*t.” Nobody wants the potential embarrassment.

The last reason JID might not radiate star power like some of his peers do is that he’s so down-to-earth and humble. He’s quiet, not prone to making outrageous pronouncements or having emotional outbursts on Twitter. In the few engagements we’ve had on that platform, he always seemed more curious and willing to learn than he did defensive, boisterous, or argumentative.

Hip-hop loves a villain – or at least an antihero – someone who talks loud and seems unafraid to make enemies. Acts like Kanye West or 50 Cent seem larger than life. Hell, even Tekashi 69, whose antics were decried by hip-hop fans, remains a subject of fascination. The soft-spoken JID just isn’t going to be as sensational a character for them to latch onto.

But his rhymes are sensational. Whether he’s talking tough on “Dance Now” and “Surround Sound” or telling nostalgic stories on “Crack Sandwich,” waxing philosophical on “Better Days” or getting confessional on “Sistanem,” he shows a grasp of the artform that almost nobody in the rap business today even comes close to. So, while he might not be as universally recognized as I believe he should be, The Forever Story might well change that.

He’s got the big-name co-signs from guest stars like 21 Savage and Lil Wayne. He’s starting to talk his sh*t on Twitter. He’s got enjoyable slow burners like “Can’t Make U Change” with Ari Lennox and veteran blessings from Yasiin Bey on “Stars.” All that’s left is for listeners to finally, well, listen. The Forever Story will reward them for doing so. In turn, all they need to do is hail JID as the best rapper of his generation.

The Forever Story is out now via Dreamville/Interscope. Get it here.

This weekend is an event Foo Fighters fans have been anticipating for months now: The first of two announced Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts is going down at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday, September 3. (Here’s how to watch it if you’re don’t have tickets to the UK show, by the way.)

The headline of Hawkins’ legacy will of course be his time with Foo Fighters and all the classic songs, albums, and tours he was part of as the band’s drummer. However, he was consistently active outside of the band, too. For example, he had his side project Taylor Hawkins And The Coattail Riders, the cover band Chevy Metal, and supergroup NHC with Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney.

Speaking of collaborations, his discography is full of those, too, so let’s go over some of the most notable, starting at 2022 and working backwards.

Towards the end of July, King Princess shared “Let Us Die,” on which Hawkins plays drums. In an interview, she spoke highly of Hawkins’ passion for his craft, saying, “In between takes, we’d FaceTime and he was just so kind. […] He was just saying he loves playing drums. And to hear that from somebody who’s lived such a life that, at his age and playing for as long as he has in so many different bands and his own projects, for him to just love to play the f*cking drums, that to me is just what we should all strive to be: Somebody who does not lose that love of their instrument.”

The song wasn’t Hawkins’ first posthumous release, though. That would be him teaming up with Edgar Winter on a cover of Johnny Winter’s “Guess I’ll Go Away” for a tribute album. That recording was released in April. He’s also set to feature on Ozzy Osbourne’s upcoming album, Patient Number 9.

Other noteworthy Hawkins contributions from the 2020s are drumming on Elton John’s The Lockdown Sessions album and on “Night Crawling,” Miley Cyrus’ Billy Idol collaboration from 2020’s Plastic Hearts (Hawkins is credited as a co-writer on that song, too).

Pre-2020s, Hawkins performed on Perry Farrell’s Kind Heaven (released in 2019), Pink’s Hurts 2B Human (2019), John Fogerty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone (2013), Slash’s Slash (2010), Coheed And Cambria’s Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 2: No World For Tomorrow (2007), Cat Power’s You Are Free (2003), and Brian May’s Another World (1998). He was also Alanis Morissette’s touring drummer for a spell in the ’90s and performs on her Grammy-winning 1997 concert film Jagged Little Pill, Live.

Check out some of Hawkins’ collaborations above and below.

Pete Davidson isn’t the only former-SNL cast member with BDE. On her Broad Ideas podcast, The O.C. favorite Rachel Bilson was asked by 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman about the thing she misses the most about her relationship with Emmy-nominated Barry actor Bill Hader (they dated for an unspecified amount of time). “His big d*ck,” she replied. Good for him, good for her, good for Lindsey Buckingham.

Bilson previously described the breakup as being “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done⁠, harder than childbirth,” a comment she now takes back. “I said it was during a time where you could not leave your house,” she said on a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, referring to the pandemic. “You had to sit in whatever it was that you were going through. So, I had to deal with this, I had to deal with being alone and taking care of my kid.” She added, “Like all of these things — that time having to force facing all of your sh*t. [That’s what I was saying] was harder than childbirth.”

“Is there anything more painful? F*ck no,” she shared. “Maybe kidney stones—definitely a close second. But like, no, I didn’t say that. All breakups are hard. Especially when you’re in something that you’re really into and things happen. You know, things change. There was a pandemic. There were so many things going on. So, it was a hard time.”

When asked by Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper whether she’s currently single, Bilson responded, “I am not.” She declined to get into her specifics about her partner, but she did answer a pair of questions from the host: “Is he bringing you coffee in the morning? Is he bringing you missionary?” Bilson’s answer: “F*ck yeah.” Again, good for her.

(Via E! Online and People)

After John Fetterman spent most of the summer relentlessly trolling Dr. Oz on social media, the Pennsylvania senate race took a nasty turn when the TV doctor’s campaign attacked Fetterman for having a stroke. It was a low point in Oz’s already humiliating campaign that was reeling from Fetterman capitalizing on Oz’s ridiculously bad grocery shopping video. In fact, just this week, Oz seemed to throw his staff under the bus for the stroke comments by telling a radio show, “The campaign’s been saying lots of things. My position is — I can only speak to what I’m saying.”

Despite Oz’s palpable uncomfortableness, the issue of Fetterman’s stroke is continuing to be brought up by his campaign. After Fetterman recently turned down a debate invitation because he’s having intermittent issues with “auditory processing,” Oz’s campaign released a sarcastic statement offering to “pay for any additional medical personnel he might need to have on standby.”

It was yet another crack at Fetterman’s stroke, but the PA lieutenant governor was quick to fire back. During his first national TV interview since being hospitalized, Fetterman was candid about his lingering, yet improving health issues and eager to tear apart Oz. “Desperation is the worst cologne,” he told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle before calling out Oz for trying to distance himself from his campaign’s remarks.

Via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“[The Oz campaign] figured out that, you know, let’s appeal to folks that get their jollies making fun of a stroke dude,” Mr. Fetterman added. “And again, if that’s your story, tell it the way you got to. But he really should own those words, and he just acknowledges that, as a doctor, you are going around making fun of somebody that had a stroke.”

Meanwhile, someone called in a favor with Donald Trump. Following reports that the former president has been privately telling people that Oz is going to “f*cking lose,” Trump pumped up Oz during a recent radio interview and ridiculed Fetterman for not agreeing to a debate, according to Mediaite.

“The guy, if you look at his past, I mean, he’s out, he’s into the world of communism,” Trump said. “His past is terrible. And I think Oz is gonna do very well. He’s coming up. He’s a good — actually he’s very energetic. He’s all over the place.”

(Via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

A Milli Vanilli biopic is on its way. Centering on the scandal involving dancers Pilatus and Morvan who pretended to be behind the 1980s hit “Girl You Know It’s True,” the movie is long-awaited and sure to touch on the intricacies of the music industry. Today, more about the movie was revealed, including the casting.

According to Deadline, Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali will play Fabrice Morvan and the late Rob Pilatus. Matthias Schweighöfer from Army of Thieves will play the German music producer Frank Farian. Graham Rogers, known for his role in Love and Mercy, will star as Milli Vanilli’s assistant Todd Headlee. Troy: Fall of a City‘s Bella Dayne will be Milli, Farian’s right-hand woman, who is the inspiration for the group’s name.

The film will be produced by Kevin Liles, the CEO of music company 300 Entertainment who also co-wrote the original version of “Girl You Know It’s True” with Baltimore DJ crew Numarx, and co-produced by Verhoeven, Farian, and Stefan Gärtner. Associate producers include Jasmin Davis, who is the daughter of the late John Davis, as well as Brad Howell who were the true voices of Milli Vanilli. It is produced by Leonine Studios and Wiedemann & Berg Film, and it’s in co-production with Sentana Film, SevenPictures, and Mediawan.

This week, Paramount+ and Showtime made streaming a little bit less stressful by making content from both services available in one app. Now, Paramount+ can be upgraded to offer Showtime all in the same app, eliminating the small but still annoying hassle of downloading, updating and opening an additional streaming service. Paramount+ and Showtime will still be available as separate apps. The merge launched on August 31. For a limited time, you can get the bundle at a discounted price.

The merger makes it so you can watch all kinds of shows and movies in the same place. For example, you can watch the latest episode of Survivor, then easily swith over to Yellowjackets. We are so spoiled.

The plans: From now until October 2, subscribers can sign up for the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle at discounted rate. A basic subscription with ads is $7.99 per month, and the ad-free offer is $12.99 per month. After that, the ad-supported version will cost you $11.99 per month, and the ad-free service will cost you $14.99 per month.

What can I watch on this? Everything you can watch on Paramount+, plus everything you can watch on Showtime.

Paramount+: Formerly called CBS All Access, Paramount+ offers CBS originals, Paramount+ originals, and films and other television shows owned by Paramount Global. Here’s some notable shows and films you can stream with the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle:

1883

The Lost City

Star Trek: Discovery

The Good Fight

The Offer

Top Gun: Maverick (eventually)

Survivor

Showtime: Showtime offers its slate of original series to the bundle. Showtime also offers a rotating roster of films on the service that come and go. Here’s some notable Showtime series that will be part of the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle:

Yellowjackets

American Gigolo

Billions

Dexter: New Blood

What you can’t watch in the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle:

Although Weeds originally aired on Showtime, it is currently available to stream on Hulu or Peackcok. Yellowstone, which is a Paramount Network original, and is currently available to stream exclusively Peacock. 1883, a Yellowstone spin-off, is a Paramount+ original series.

Kanye West may have dialed down his Instagram petty to only celebrating his perceived enemies’ supposed failures, but he’s packing double the vitriol in those posts, often lashing out at two in the same post. His preferred secondary target is Kid Cudi, who he zings in the subheadlines of the bizarre fake New York Times covers he has been posting to strike out at rivals such as Pete Davidson and Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted.

In his latest post, he declares the latter “also dead at 60,” calling back to his post about Pete. In the subheadline, though, he throws two jabs at once, writing, “I know what you’re thinking… who is Kasper? but even less importantly who is Kid Cudi?”

Actually, I was thinking how badly Kanye needs a copy editor, but I digress. In Kanye’s previous dig at his former artist, Kanye sniped at him for cutting his Rolling Loud set short after fans threw objects onstage. “Kid Cudi meant to play funeral but fearful of bottle throwers,” he trolled. His latest shot is likely a response he’s been sitting on since Cudi told Esquire he has no plans to reconcile with his former mentor.

“With all due respect, I’m not Drake,” he said. “It’s gonna take a motherf*cking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening. He gon’ have to become a monk.” Cudi later clarified that he meant no disrespect to Drake, with whom he previously did have a feud but they’ve since made up.

Kanye’s beef with Rørsted, meanwhile, stems from his belief that the Adidas chief is responsible for the company seemingly distancing itself from Kanye while continuing to use his designs, which is not in any way Kanye’s own fault for acting like a colicky toddler for the past year or so. Rørsted is stepping down as CEO sometime this year. May whoever succeeds him finally drop Kanye so he can enjoy his creative freedom, or whatever.

For the first time in four seasons, the WNBA’s Sixth Player of the Year award is not going to someone on the Las Vegas Aces. Instead, the award will go to a player on the Connecticut Sun, as Brionna Jones’ excellence off of the bench has led to her getting honored by the league.

The WNBA announced that Jones won the award on Thursday afternoon as part of its weeklong award roll-out. Jones received 53 out of a potential 56 votes for the award, with two going to Azurá Stevens of the Chicago Sky and the remaining one going to Myisha Hines-Allen of the Washington Mystics. She is the third player in franchise history to win the award, as Renee Montgomery took it home in 2012 and current teammate Jonquel Jones, who received the honor in 2019, is the most recent non-Aces player to win it.

Jones, an All-Star selection and the WNBA’s reigning Most Improved Player, was instrumental in the Sun’s 25-11 campaign this year. After starting all 32 games in which she appeared last season, Jones came off the bench in 29 of a potential 36 contests this year, averaging 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 25.1 minutes a night.

Jones and the Sun are in the midst of a WNBA semifinal series against Stevens and the Sky. After Connecticut won Game 1 earlier this week, Chicago was able to bounce back and pick up a victory in Game 2 on Wednesday night.