Category: News

Atlanta-based upstart Young Nudy has been gaining momentum in his hometown for years. While it’s hard to tell when or if his breakout to the mainstream will come, this week, he launched another salvo in his ongoing campaign to take over the music world. After he won plenty of success by teaming up with Pi’erre Bourne in 2019 on Sli’merre, it makes sense he’d reunite for another go-round with the spaced-out producer as he stands on the cusp of his potential leap to a higher plateau.

On EA Monster, Nudy follows up his 2021 mixtapes Dr. Ev4l and Rich Shooter with 11 tracks of distorted, eerie beats from Bourne featuring Nudy’s signature trap boasts and threats. The bleary-eyed vibe is one of the big reasons why Nudy has caught on with younger fans in Atlanta — vibes over everything — but if they can drive up the streams on this one to a commensurate level to his popularity at home, it could be an advantage as many folks’ first introduction to Nudy when it reaches the Billboard radar. There’s little in the rap world that sounds much like it, and it could grab enough attention to get him to that next level.

You can listen to EA Monster below.

Kendrick Lamar is currently in the thick of his The Big Steppers Tour in support of his triumphant new album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. This past weekend, the Compton rapper played three dates in New York City, with two nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday and Saturday, followed by a Sunday show at UBS Arena in Long Island on Sunday. But that was clearly not enough of New York on-stage time for Lamar. So, on Saturday night, Kendrick played an intimate stripped-down performance at Brooklyn’s Dumbo House, where Jay-Z and Beyoncé were both in attendance and Kendrick tipped a cap to Jay-Z for a very specific reason.

In the stripped-down performance for what looks like less than 100 people, Kendrick was backed only by a keyboard and bass and when he was playing “The Heart Part 5,” he stopped mid flow to thank Jay-Z for clearing a lyric sample. “I say I do this for my culture,” he rapped, before delivering an aside to his esteemed guest: “Hov, good looking out for clearing that muthaf*cking line. You ain’t never… you ain’t never charged me for a muthaf*cking line, dog! You know, I really appreciate that sh*t.”

Some folks captured Jay-Z and Beyoncé leaving the members-only club (which is the Brooklyn outpost of the more well-known Soho House) after the performance, but not before Jay, Kendrick, Baby Keem, Tanna Leone, and Dave Free had time to pose for a photo together.

This was a special one for anyone in attendance, but one Dumbo House regular missed out on surprise. Give this dude a hug if you see him around town:

If the $uccess of Top Gun: Maverick taught us anything, it’s that people like crowd-pleasing action films. So it’s a real shame that Prey, the latest (and very good) installment in the Predator franchise, didn’t receive a theatrical release and instead went straight to streaming. (It’s also a shame that studios are rarely willing to give a chance for movies with non-white — let alone non-white female — protagonists to succeed at the box office, but that’s a depressing conversation for another day.)

Hulu isn’t complaining about Prey coming direct to streaming, however.

On Tuesday, Disney said the film scored the No. 1 premiere on Hulu to date, including all film and TV series debuts. Additionally, the pic was the most watched film premiere on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star Banner in all other territories, based on hours watched in the first three days of its release. Disney did not share total hours viewed, as Netflix does.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke to a “veteran box office analyst” who believes the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios made the right choice by putting Prey on streaming, “considering that the last film in the series, 2018’s The Predator, was a bust that tarnished the brand.” The analyst added, “They might have had a tough road to hoe if going theatrical.” There’s a difference between The Predator and Prey, however: The Predator is a bad movie; Prey is a good movie. Even if the good boy wasn’t so good.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

A judge has ordered one-time Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to road trip his way to Georgia to appear before a grand jury investigating the former president’s attempts to influence the state’s 2020 Presidential Election results.

Giuliani was scheduled to appear in a Georgia court today to answer questions about his own false claims of voter fraud and Trump’s attempts to pressure Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn the results. Instead, his lawyers argued that Giuliani couldn’t appear before the grand jury in person because of a recent medical procedure. According to William H. Thomas Jr., a lawyer representing Giuliani in the case, the former New York mayor had a doctor’s note that prevented him from flying following the undisclosed procedure. Giuliani’s team tried to persuade the judge to let him answer questions virtually since he couldn’t travel.

Unfortunately for Giuliani, prosecutors in the case had his receipts, literally. Via Raw Story, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis presented records they had obtained showing Trump’s former henchman had paid for flights to Rome, Italy, and Zurich, Switzerland in cash for multiple dates between July 22nd and July 29th, well after his procedure took place. The DA also referenced a tweet sent by Giuliani on August 1st, showing the right-wing loon at an event in New Hampshire.

Judge Robert McBurney let both sides argue their case but ultimately told Giuliani’s team he expected to see them on Aug. 17th, suggesting that Giuliani drive the 13 hours from New York to Georgia by breaking up the trip across multiple days. The DA also offered to pay for Giuliani to travel by bus or train if that was more convenient for him.

“If it turns out that Mr. Giuliani is willfully disregarding the now formal invitation to be here, that’s problematic,” McBurney told Giuliani’s attorney. “If that’s not the situation then we need to establish when he’ll be here and there are lots of ways to make that happen. I’m sure he can find a way, short of Greyhound, that can get him to Atlanta.”

(Via RawStory)

Jeopardy! is gearing up for a new season with some familiar faces officially hosting the program full-time. And as taping gets underway for Season 39 there have been some new changes to the show fans are finally seeing for themselves.

The return of a live studio audience to the Jeopardy! tapings means that some details about the show will leak out well before the new episodes air later this fall. And as the Sun detailed, there are a few changes in store for those lucky enough to get tickets to see it happen from inside the studio.

But the biggest thing the attendee mentioned: the official demise of the Jeopardy Clue Crew. The four-person team once helped Alex Trebek read off clues from themed categories, oftentimes traveling the world to recite clues on video from various locations. But it seems the Clue Crew has asked for its last answer in the form of a question.

The fan said that a Jeopardy! crew-member, however: “confirmed the permanent disbandment of the Clue Crew with no plans for its return.”

The Ringer’s Claire McNear also relayed the news amid a lengthy Clue Crew-related thread, which certainly makes it seem like the crew is officially no more.

Change isn’t exactly a good thing in the Jeopardy! universe, as we’ve seen with the long string of guest hosts and even how some players perform on stage. But this ultimately doesn’t alter much of the game itself. One Clue Crew member, Kelly Miyahara, left the show in 2019. And two of the Clue Crew are still working on the staff: Sarah Whitcomb Foss is a producer for the show, and Jimmy McGuire is the show’s stage manager. In July, the latter tweeted about his “final lap” as a Clue Crew member of 21 years, an early indication that the group was officially going away.

It seems likely that the show will continue having affiliates and other celebrities read guest clue categories, as they have more and more in recent years.

If you were dangling from the top of a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower in the middle of nowhere, you would probably use a curse word or two to adequately express just how absurd the situation is, right? It seems like the only natural way to deal with the stress of all of that, which just so happens to be the plot of the upcoming thriller Fall starring Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner.

The duo star as two women who are determined to reach the top of a really high structure, despite the fact that one of their boyfriends died on a similar trip, which is reason enough to never want to climb anything ever again (even stairs). But, while filming the movie, which also stars The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actors naturally said over 30 curse words that seemed appropriate at the time, but not when the movie was being edited for a theatrical release, instead of on a streamer.

“When we were filming the movie, we didn’t know if we were R or if we were PG-13, so I said the F-word so many times I think Scott wanted to kill me in post when we were trying to a PG-13 rating,” Gardner explained. In order to make those hardcore curse words into tamer, PG-13 alternatives, the studio used a type of DeepFake technology from Flawless, a London-based dubbing company that uses technology to change the mouths of the actors who may or may not be cursing. PG-13 ratings normally allow for one or two instances of the F-word, but not 30.

Director Scott Mann explained why he used Flawless (where he is also co-CEO) and their technology to make it seem like the actors were really saying “freaking!” instead of…the alternative. “For a movie like this, we can’t reshoot it. We’re not a big tentpole… we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the time, more than anything else,” Mann explained. “What really saved this movie and brought it into a wider audience was technology.”

Currey said she couldn’t even tell which of her scenes had been dubbed over. “As far as I know, every movement my mouth made in that movie, my mouth made.” Besides, viewers probably won’t be focusing on the actor’s mouths, they will be looking down the 2,000-foot drop and probably try not to throw up!

Fall hits theaters this Friday, August 12.

(Via Variety)

Los Angeles-bred newcomer TRAETWOTHREE didn’t have to travel far to come to Uproxx Studios for his UPROXX Sessions performance of “Keep Doing You.” Born and raised in the Crenshaw district, he’s the latest in a proud LA legacy of hip-hop-influenced crooners who perfectly balance street wisdom with an emotional vulnerability that also includes fellow Sessions alumni Blxst, Kalan.FrFr, and Kyle Banks. In “Keep Doing You,” the Crenshaw crooner delivers a smooth West Coast banger perfect for late-night cruising and laid-back turn-ups.

Trae, whose debut project Out The District is out now on Ncredible/Art@War/Atlantic Records, plugs the cool, kickback vibe of LA nightlife into the post-hyphy groove that has come to dominate the LA sound over the past few years, detailing his experiences with smooth precision and velvety vocals. As he puts it, “People look at Los Angeles as having a lot of gangbanging and negativity, but we want to give it a different feel. I’m a young and fly night owl. This is the positive player side of Crenshaw.”

Watch TRAETWOTHREE’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Keep Doing You” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

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

At the moment you’re reading this, Rudy Giuliani should probably be in Fulton County, Georgia, testifying to a grand jury about whether or not Donald Trump attempted to mess with the election process in the Peachtree State. But Rudy claimed he was physically incapable of flying, and even had a doctor’s note to prove it. But when the county district attorney’s office graciously offered to foot the bill for a train or bus ride for the former New York City mayor, he declined once again.

Rudy did almost die by back-pat not too long ago, and he sure does seem to be in bad shape. Strangely, he seemed to feel well enough on Monday night to have an animated chat with Newsmax, a.k.a. the only network desperate enough to put his mug on camera, about how Trump was totally right to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Given all the sorts of legal issues in which Giuliani is currently embroiled, and his failure to show up in Georgia to discuss the election (after completely blowing off the his previously scheduled testimony), one would think that he’d want to keep quiet on the topic. But, oh HELL NO. While discussing the raid on Mar-a-Lago, Giuliani — who many believe Trump has set up as the scapegoat for all that election meddling — called it “outrageous” and accused the FBI of going after the former president based on “some kind of a cockamamie theory about electors.” (Leave it to Rudy to use a word like “cockamamie.”)

Rudy, his glasses getting foggier by the second, insisted that Trump “had every right to contest that election. What is this, the Soviet Union? He had every right to contest that election.”

Someone may want to tell Rudy that it’s probably best to not make any sort of reference to what is now Russia as part of his defense.

On August 4, out of the blue, Megan Thee Stallion shared the definition of the word “traumazine,” which read, “the chemical released in the brain when it is forced to deal with painful emotions caused by traumatic events and experiences.” Given that it’s a cool-sounding word and relevant to Megan’s recent experiences (most notably the whole Tory Lanez fiasco), it was quickly rumored that Traumazine would be the title of Meg’s next album. Now, it appears she may have confirmed it.

Today, the rapper shared a quick new teaser video, which is set at a rainy outdoor funeral and shows Megan, wearing all black, placing a black rose on a casket. Then, in comes a different version of Meg, this one wearing all white. After that reveal, the word “traumazine” is shown on screen. The post is captioned, “It almost that time…”

Given that the video doesn’t exactly specify what “Traumazine” is, this doesn’t count as a confirmation of the album’s title (it could be just a song, after all). It sure does look like a confirmation, though.

Also relevant is that Megan recently shared a message about her album, writing on an Instagram Story last month, “So happy abt my album. It’s finished. It’s for the hotties. It’s honest. It’s me. It’s real.”

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Idris Elba seems to be increasingly dropping hints that he wants to suit up again as his The Suicide Squad anti-hero Bloodsport. While walking the red carpet for his new movie, Beast, Elba made it clear that he wants to come back and tell the backstory of how his character put Superman in the ICU. Granted, the answer is “Bloodsport shot him with a Kryptonite battle,” but Elba is eager to bring the classic comic book moment to life.

“I would definitely like to tell the Superman story. There’s no doubt,” Elba told Variety. “Bloodsport versus Superman. It needs to happen.”

Before anyone chalks this up as wishful thinking, Elba also recently told reporter Erik Davis that he’s got a “got a really big thing cooking for DC right now.”

As for what all of this means… well, that is anyone’s guess. However, The Suicide Squad director James Gunn has been teasing another spinoff project following the success of Peacemaker. More notably, he tweeted about Elba’s character back in May and gave this notably cryptic answer to a fan who asked if Bloodsport will return: “That would be nice wouldn’t it?”

There have also been rumblings of Henry Cavill returning as Superman, but those rumors flatlined when he didn’t show up at this year’s Comic-Con despite headlines claiming he’d make a surprise appearance. Although, it didn’t take long for the Cavill talk to immediately fire up again when it was reported shortly after the Comic-Con no-show that he tested positive for COVID.

While all of this sounds exciting, there’s still the specter of whatever the heck is going on at Warner Bros. Discovery in the air. The newly formed media conglomerate recently shelved Batgirl, and it has been making waves about reconfiguring the DC brand. While Gunn has made assurances that none of this has affected his work on Peacemaker season two, it’s hard not to feel the palpable uncertainty around any DC Comics project right now.

(Via Variety)