Category: News

On Thursday night, Tucker Carlson did that thing he does where he fancies himself quite the wit and attempts to attack one of his naysayers with a seemingly dead-serious segment, where he usually attacks the person’s physical appearance. Nancy Pelosi has been a favorite target of the Fox News host, who recently mocked a photo of her wearing a bathing suit at the beach (and looking fabulous at 82, by the way). Back in January, he got a few chuckles by pretending that Pelosi was Michael Jackson. But last night, Carlson went after one of his biggest critics when he took aim at Jon Stewart.

As many people know, the former Daily Show host would most accurately be described as an activist these days and is particularly passionate about America’s piss-poor treatment of veterans, who have risked their lives and health for this country, only to have the government shrug their shoulders and claim they’re not responsible for the harmful effects of toxic burn pits and other dangers to which our members of the military are regularly exposed. Rather than acknowledge that Stewart had a point, Carlson—who seems to not understand what it’s like to have empathy for other human beings—instead decided to mock Stewart’s passion about these issues, as The Daily Beast reported. Clearly, the only thing that has ever gotten Carlson that heated is his martini being too dry.

Carlson commented on photos of a clearly fired up Stewart, describing him as looking like “a homeless mental patient. He’s shrieking and disheveled,” Carlson continued. “And very short. Really short! Too short to date.” (We don’t think Stewart will be losing any sleep over knowing that Carlson doesn’t want to date him.)

“What happened?,” Carlson wanted to know. “Where’s he been the last seven years?!”

While we’re guessing that Tucker’s question was rhetorical, it might help Carlson to know that while he’s been sitting on his Fox News high horse spreading conspiracy theories, promoting testicle-tanning, and becoming absolutely obsessed with Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen balls (hmmm… seems like a pattern), Stewart has had deals with HBO and Apple TV+, where he currently hosts and executive produces The Problem with Jon Stewart. He has also been fighting side-by-side for health care rights for 9/11 First Responders and America’s military.

When he’s not busy with those tasks, he also sometimes finds time to tweet:

Of course, Tucker’s issues with Stewart go all the way back to at least 2004—when Carlson (who was still in his bow tie phase) was a co-host on CNN’s Crossfire. Stewart appeared on the program one night and verbally annihilated Carlson and his childish sartorial choices. You can watch the full segment below.

(Via The Daily Beast)

In 2018, Kanye West felt like a completely different person. It was difficult for many to grasp what the Graduation rapper had become, especially after proclaiming “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” ten years earlier on national television. As a result, many fans and collaborators distanced themselves from the superproducer. One peer in particular, John Legend, recently spoke about how Ye’s political beliefs related to Donald Trump caused a chasm in their friendship.

CNN’s The Axe Files host David Axelrod spoke with the “All Of Me” artist and inquired as to the state of his relationship with West, Daily Mail reports. Legend replied, “We aren’t friends as much as we used to be because, I honestly think because we publicly disagreed on his running for office, his supporting Trump. I think it became, uh, too much for us to sustain our friendship, honestly.”

The R&B artist continued, sharing that the Yeezy founder took issue with his lack of support during Ye’s presidential campaign: “I wasn’t alone in that, but, you know, he was not happy about that. And we really haven’t been close since then.”

West and Legend previously worked together on “Selfish,” “Number One,” “They Say,” “Blame Game,” and many other records.

West has yet to comment on what Legend said.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE – I am so proud of everyone here

One of the things we do here at The Rundown is address trends. We’ve done it when one particular actor or actress pops up in a bunch of our favorite shows, we’ve done it when one of our favorite shows has a noticeable uptick in cute doggies on-screen, we did it for wiener hijinks, and we’re doing it again now for an equally important reason: Our favorite shows have been dropping surprise Home Alone cameos on us. I mean, it’s only two shows so far. And the second one wasn’t so much “a cameo” as it was a “hey, that’s the guy who was in the other thing,” but these are mere semantics. Also, I wanted to write about it. So… here we are. I feel great about it.

The first one happened a few months back on The Righteous Gemstones. Baby Billy Freeman — Walton Goggins in terrific sleazy televangelist makeup — travels to reconnect with the son he abandoned in a shopping mall decades earlier. He gets there and rings the doorbell and whooooaaaa it was Macaulay Culkin, right there, standing in front of him. I shouted a little bit. As I did again, later, when Baby Billy asked if there was any way to make things right and his son said he wanted to punch him square in the face and then, well…

It’s a good show. And that was a good piece of business. It could have very easily fallen into the trap of stunt casting without the surprisingly real heart that was in the scene. This is how you do it. It helps to end the scene with Kevin McAllister punching Boyd Crowder straight in the kisser. I did not ever expect to see that. It’s good to sit back and appreciate the finer things in life like this sometimes.

Also, and I swear I’ll move on in a second, Baby Billy said this to his estranged son early on in their awkward meeting and it has been living inside a nice little waterfront condo in my brain ever since, with no sign of moving out any time soon.

Perfect. An excellent job by everyone. And if that had been the only Home Alone-related cameo we saw on television all year, then, like, fine. Worth it. But…

BUT

On the episode of Better Call Saul that aired this week, and I promise I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, the following things happened:

• Saul, now in the present day as Cinnabon Gene, was hanging with a drunk dude in a bar and singing karaoke and losing bets to him
• The drunk dude looked a little familiar
• The drunk dude was played by Devin Ratray, who, many years ago, in Home Alone, played Kevin’s oldest brother and chief tormentor Buzz

Here, look.

This was also cool. Mostly because I like the part where the child actor who was famous for a small role in a massive movie is still working today and landing gigs in the pivotal closing episodes of one of our best television shows. Good for him. Good for all of us. But mostly good for him.

Anyway, I hope this trend continues. Just litter my favorite television shows with actors who also appeared in Home Alone. It’s probably better to go with some of the lesser-known options, just for the notability of it all, seeing as Catherine O’Hara and Joe Pesci have other roles they’re known for too now and wouldn’t be “Home Alone cameos,” I guess, at least not in the strictest sense of the phrase. Also, Joe Pesci is retired. Which further complicates that one.

Still, if that new Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon can get him for a brief appearance in the premiere, maybe as a king who gets lit up with fire breath after cussing out a huge dragon for… oh, let’s say stepping on his fancy robe and getting it dirty, well… no complaints here.

ITEM NUMBER TWO – The disagreement between Sylvester Stallone and the producers of Rocky, explained, kind of

Sylvester Stallone is angry. He is so angry. It’s kind of understandable, too. It turns out that he doesn’t own the vast majority of the rights to the Rocky films, the franchise that started with a script he wrote and led to an actual statue of the fictional boxer being displayed in Philadelphia for a few decades now because… well… that’s just how things go in Philadelphia sometimes. Go Birds.

The main subject of his rage is Irwin Winkler, the longtime producer who holds the rights and is working toward making some kind of Drago-related spinoff, which was set in motion by the events of Creed II. Wait until you see how mad Sly is. Look what he said on his Instagram page, per Variety:

“Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out… ONCE AGAIN , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David, are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me,” Stallone wrote. “I APOLOGIZE to the FANS, I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites.”

So three things here:

• The posts — there were a few; again, he was mad — have since been deleted, which is kind of funny
• Irwin Winkler is 91 years old, not 94, but whatever
• I’m actually kind of impressed that he got both a “vultures” and a “parasites” in there

I’ll come back to this last thing in a second. But first, we press on.

Stallone also acknowledged his relationship with actor Dolph Lundgren, who portrays Soviet champion boxer Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV” and “Creed II.” It is unclear if Lundgren is set to reprise his role in the “Drago” spinoff.

“By the way, I have nothing but respect for Dolph but I wish HE had told me what was going on behind my back,” Stallone concluded. “Keep your REAL friends close.”

“I have nothing but respect for him but he’s a dirty dog who sneaks around behind people’s backs and I hope nothing good ever happens to him again.” It’s beautiful. Even better because Lundgren came out later and was legitimately confused by all of it, as he was barely more in the loop on most of it than Stallone. Really good stuff here, folks. Top to bottom.

Which brings me to my real point here: I just wanted to post my favorite old Stallone tweets. I post these all the time. I don’t even need a reason as good as this one. Or a reason at all. They’re so good. Remember how I said the thing about him getting vultures and parasites into the same rant? Well, here’s Sly going off on the haters and dropping another animal reference.

I love that this is his move. I wonder what other animals he’s used to trash people. I like to picture him at various zoos and aquariums around the country asking very specific questions about which animals have the most nefarious traits. I would watch this as a reality show. I promise I am not joking.

Hey, wanna see some tweets from around the time The Expendables movies were casting where Sylvester Stallone repeatedly asserts that Ryan Seacrest could beat up Jet Li and/or Jean-Claude Van Damme? Let me go ahead and answer that one for you: Yes, you do.

These tweets are over a decade old and the words “ask Steve Austin, he knows” still pop into my head every few weeks. If any of you know Steve Austin, please ask him about these tweets and report back. Send his exact quotes about it to me at [email protected]. This is as close as I’ll ever get to doing actual journalism.

In conclusion, here’s what I consider to be history’s greatest and most accurate tweet, one that I would put up there on an artistic hierarchy with the entirety of his work in the Rocky franchise and something no hater/parasite/cockroach/vulture can take away from him.

When you’re right, you’re right.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – Jennifer Coolidge rules

There was a big profile of Jennifer Coolidge over at Variety this week. That was cool, because Jennifer Coolidge is cool, and it’s cool to see her get some recognition for that. The profile is tied to the second season of The White Lotus, which is on the way and set in Italy, with her character as the only returning member of the cast, kind of like what Knives Out is doing with Daniel Craig, but sillier, which I respect. She’s been around doing great work for decades — Christopher Guest movies, playing Stifler’s mom in American Pie and single-handedly bringing the term “MILF” to the lexicon — but I like that she’s really getting to shine now.

I also like that she’s using basketball analogies to explain it all.

Now, at 60, Coolidge is close to the center of the frame, so much a part of the “White Lotus” phenomenon that she’s the only major cast member to make the jump from Season 1’s Hawaii resort to the show’s next location in Italy — no audition needed. Lodging at the first White Lotus to find comfort after her mother’s death, Tanya alternately sulks and rages, drawing a service worker (played by Natasha Rothwell) into the orbit of her narcissism. Coolidge may be a supporting player, but she’s nobody’s comic relief. Her majestically unhinged performance is like nothing she’s done before, and unlike any experience she’s had on set too. “I feel like the coach asked the other actors to let me dribble the ball more. Give the ball to Jennifer once in a while,” she says. “I get to shoot now.”

Good. Great. Let the Coolidge Era begin. Put her in everything. Get her in The Righteous Gemstones as a rival televangelist. Plop her into the Fast & Furious movies as the president. Have her show up on Hacks as Jean Smart’s long-lost sister. I do not care. Just do it.

Ask her to audition, though. Not because she needs to prove anything to you or me or anyone else, really, just because I want to see what’ll happen after she said this about being asked to audition for the Legally Blonde musical.

“I said to my agent, what do you mean, audition?” she recalls. “It’s not a straight offer?” He reiterated the request: Would she be willing to fly to London to try out for a part she’d already played? “My agent said, ‘I think they just want to see if you can sing and dance.’ Look, if I got up onstage and farted, and that’s all I did, it would still be the lady from the movie!”

The greatest.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Pizza chat

We can be quick about this one. It’s pretty straightforward. Jeremy Allen White, star of The Bear, the Hulu series that all your friends have been talking about all summer, the one where he plays a chef at a restaurant in Chicago, was interviewed by InStyle this week. The subject turned to food, as will happen when you star in a show about food or the interviewer is hungry, which led to this exchange about Chicago delicacies.

Chicago-style hotdog or deep-dish pizza? You have to choose one.

Deep-dish pizza is disgusting. That’s the easiest question I’ve ever been asked.

Spoken like a true New Yorker.

It doesn’t make any sense. It’s so doughy. Get it out here. I don’t need it.

So here’s my thing about this: Pizza is good. Almost all pizza is good. Thin crust, thick crust, triangle, square, all of it. Even most bad pizza is kind of good. I’ve pulled two-day-old pizza out of the fridge and eaten it cold as a snack and I would argue that it was better in the moment than what most of you had for dinner last night. Pizza is just good. Some pizza is less good than other pizza, but it’s still pizza. We should all try to remember that in these highly divisive times.

That said, I reserve the right to go on a 30-minute rant about why your local sandwich shop is not actually making a “Philly cheesesteak” correctly. That’s different.

I’m not a hypocrite.

No, YOU shut up.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – I need everyone to think about this for a minute

Let’s set the scene here…

A couple was hiking their way up a mountain in Europe with their dog recently when they heard a helicopter approach. They stopped and looked up, as one tends to do when one sees a helicopter approach. The helicopter landed and, yup, our stepped Tom Cruise, who told them he was about to launch himself off the side of that very mountain as part of an action sequence for the next Mission: Impossible movie. We pick up the action here, via The Sun.

But before launching himself from the Cumbrian fell, he paused to say sorry to Sarah and Jason Haygarth, from nearby Penrith, who had reached the 2,440ft summit by foot with their dog, Edward.

Tom, thought to be filming Mission: Impossible 7, yelled: “Sorry for disturbing your peaceful walk with all the noise — I like your dog.”

The thing I like about Tom Cruise is that he’s almost recklessly friendly. He’s a strange man, sure, quite possibly one of the 10 or 20 strangest people alive, but always so, so friendly. I guarantee you would like Tom Cruise if you met him. He would just knock you over with the sheer force of his charm. Guaranteed. Even if you don’t like him now. You can make all the tough claims you want, but you’d walk away going “Wow, what a nice dude.” I know this for certain.

Anyway.

Lettings agent Sarah, 48, replied: “Are you really going to jump off there?”

Smiling Tom nodded and began running towards the edge — shouting: “See you later, folks.”

Perfect. And even better because they had cameras in their telephones and could document all of it. Imagine telling your friend this story like 25 years ago before technology got to the point where everyone could record every second of their lives.

YOU: I met Tom Cruise yesterday.

FRIEND: Where?

YOU: On top of a mountain.

FRIEND: Shut up.

YOU: And he said my dog was cool.

FRIEND: Come on.

YOU: No, I’m serious.

FRIEND: Do you have any proof?

YOU: I couldn’t get any.

FRIEND: Why?

YOU: He jumped off the mountain first.

FRIEND: Okay, I’m leaving.

YOU: What?! It’s true!

Everyone would get so sick of you telling this story and no one would believe it for a second. You would probably lose friends over it. It would be a whole thing. It’s much easier to just snap a picture. The future is weird and scary in a lot of ways but it is nice that we have this. Something to think about over the weekend.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Nick:

Need some show recommendations, buddy. You’re my guy on this. You’ve rarely steered me wrong. But with Holey Moley over and Better Call Saul ending soon and most of my other shows on a break, I’m in a rut. Don’t make me sort through 700 options on all the streaming services. Just tell me what to watch. There’s only 30 minutes of What We Do in the Shadows every week. I need advice for couch time.

Hmm. A few things:

• I love that the two shows you identified here are Holey Moley and Better Call Saul, because it says a lot about what an idiot I am that these two shows could not possibly be more different and yet I love them both equally
• A lot of people loved Severance on Apple TV, but I tried to get into it three times and could not, which is a good reminder that it’s okay if a show everyone likes just isn’t for you and you don’t have to force it
• Please do not yell at me

Okay, here are some shows I’ve been watching lately. They’re all half-hours and they’re mostly silly and fun. Part of that is because that’s the kind of mood I’ve been in lately, part is to offset the thing where I’ve been watching Saul and writing 2500 words about it every week, and part is because there are so many good half-hours right now. Away we go.

Harley Quinn (HBO Max) — Delightfully profane cartoon that just started its third season. I’ve written about it before but it is really just a blast, thanks in no small part to Bane being an insecure goof and Commissioner Gordon being a depressed sad sack who plays with the Bat Signal.

The Resort (Peacock) — So it’s a mystery series from the creators of Mr. Robot and Lodge 49 and it stars Cristin Milioti from Palm Springs and William Jackson Harper from The Good Place and it takes place at a fancy Mexican hotel and the whole thing hinges on an old Motorola RAZR that Milioti’s character finds after wiping out on a four-wheeler in the jungle. Good show.

Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu) — A mostly perfect show that just started its second season and already featured a mild stabbing and opened the proceedings up with exactly this.

That’s a good start. And What We Do in the Shadows has been incredible, but you’re already watching that. My favorite thing there has been adolescent Colin Robinson starting like half his sentences with “Hey Laszlo, guess what.” The accuracy is inspiring. I’ve also been watching a lot of old episodes of Hot Ones on YouTube. It’s nice to remember that’s an option if you need to kill 28 minutes. The one I watched this week featured Colin Farrell swearing at chicken wings a little bit. That was good television.

Okay, that’s all I got. Hope this helps.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Japan!

People in a southwestern Japanese city have come under attack from monkeys that are trying to snatch babies, biting and clawing at flesh, and sneaking into nursery schools.

The attacks — on 58 people since July 8 — are getting so bad Yamaguchi city hall hired a special unit to hunt the animals with tranquilizer guns.

Two things are true here:

• This is terrifying
• I need a half-hour comedy from Danny McBride where he and Walton Goggins hunt demon monkeys with tranquilizer guns and I need it by next weekend

Moving on.

The monkeys aren’t interested in food, so traps haven’t worked. They have targeted mostly children and the elderly.

Am I the only one seeing the obvious solution here? The one where the elite tranquilizer squad all dresses up like children and old women? How did everyone not jump immediately to that idea? Yes, sure, “have elite commando forces dress up like children and old women” is my solution for everything, but still. It works here.

Come on. Just once. For me.

A woman was assaulted by a monkey while hanging laundry on her veranda. Another victim showed bandaged toes. They were taken aback and frightened by how big and fat the monkeys were.

The monkeys terrorizing the community are Japanese macaque, the kind often pictured peacefully bathing in hot springs.

BIG FAT SPA MONKEYS ON THE WARPATH

DANNY MCBRIDE DRESSED LIKE A GOLDEN GIRL TAKING THEM OUT WITH A SEMI-AUTOMATIC TRANQ GUN

MAKE THE SHOW

MAKE IT

Although Japan is industrialized and urban, a fair portion of land in the archipelago is mountains and forests. Rare attacks on people by a bear, boars or other wildlife have occurred, but generally not by monkeys.

No one seems to know why the attacks have occurred, and where exactly the troop of monkeys came from remains unclear.

“I have never seen anything like this my entire life,” Saito said.

Let me circle back and reiterate the two points I opened with because they are even more relevant now:’

• This is terrifying
• I desperately need this television show

Thank you.

Black Party‘s new album Hummingbird is out today, and he teamed up with Childish Gambino for the dreamy track “I Love You More Than You Know,” which comes with a soaring video drenched in sunlight. The video captures Black Party, real name Malik Flint, driving through the mountains, along with snippets of him with his family at a beach, all with a grainy texture that matches the lo-fi feeling of the song.

“I Love You More Than You Know” is more atmospherics and croons than it is rap, but Donald Glover’s flow offers some urgency to the otherwise languid song: “I love you more than you know / I never thought I’d see forty, I hope there’s forty to go / Might die tomorrow, who knows,” he raps.

When Glover was interviewed on Kimmel in March, he was asked if he was working on a new album to follow up 2020’s 3.15.20. He replied, “Uh, no,” before quickly indicating he was joking. He added, “I’m making a lot of music. I really love doing it. I’ve made a bunch of it. It’s just really about how to experience it at this point.”

Watch the video for “I Love You More Than You Know” above.

Despite The Notorious B.I.G. rapping “you never thought that hip-hop would take it his far” on his 1994 breakout single “Juicy,” even he might have been shocked to see just how far the genre has come since then if we were still around. After all, when he wrote that line, the genre had only been around for around twenty years, going by the widely accepted “birthday” of August 11, 1973. For much of that time, hip-hop was seen as a passing fad, a little like its immediate predecessor disco.

But here we are, coming up on hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. The culture and the music both look way different than they did when they started, even factoring in the 20-year fashion cycle. One thing that can’t be denied, though, is that hip-hop underwent some of its biggest stylistic evolutions and innovations during the ’90s when people finally began to realize that this “fad” might be here to stay. And while things have changed a lot, many of those innovations remain the bedrock upon which almost all future offshoots of hip-hop are based.

While there have been multiple generations born into a world where hip-hop has always been part of pop culture, those generations often find themselves at odds because as new fans are born every day — literally or figuratively — they often come into those discussions missing valuable context about the roots and history of the music both sides love so much. Rather than shooing these newcomers out the proverbial gates, why don’t we welcome them in?

Being a good citizen starts with a good education, and since it’s hard to know where to start with the hip-hop canon, we wanted to give the kids (and new hip-hop fans of all ages) a primer on some of the most groundbreaking and important rap albums of the ’90s. By no means is this list comprehensive or complete — that’d be borderline impossible without turning it into a book instead — but these albums have contributed to a canon that has turned out to be dynamic, inclusive, and at times borderline ridiculous. You might see some familiar favorites or even a few unexpected additions, but they all form part of hip-hop’s beloved and elaborate tapestry.

(P.S. In case it’s not immediately obvious, this list is in alphabetical order. Please don’t mistake this for a ranking and yell at me for putting MC Lyte “above” Tupac or something stupid like that.)

8Ball & MJG — Comin’ Out Hard

You might be surprised to see the 1993 debut album from the Memphis duo here, but one listen to the title track will almost certainly call to mind the groovy style still in use today by the likes of Curren$y, Denzel Curry, Joey Badass, Larry June, Le$, and more.

A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders

As the debate between which Tribe album, 1991’s Low End Theory or 1993’s Midnight Marauders, holds more weight in the Queens crew’s canon, there’s simply no denying that the latter saw them at the height of their powers, standing toe-to-toe with gigantic contemporaries as the standard-bearers for so-called “alternative hip-hop” on the radio and at MTV.

Black Star — Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are…

When you think of modern “conscious rap” today, nearly every practitioner of the form comes from the lineage of this culture defining album.

Da Brat — Funkdafied

She may have been a gender-flipped Snoop Dogg clone on her 1994 debut, but she was the first female solo rap act to receive a platinum certification, opening the door for the sisterhood to follow. She proved women could be commercially viable — and inadvertently opened the door for queer representation in hip-hop, even if it took 25 years for her to openly admit her sexuality.

De La Soul — Stakes Is High

De La Soul’s discography is one of the heartiest in hip-hop history — and the hardest to hear — but their 1996 album remains a high watermark as an exemplar of the then-burgeoning underground movement against hip-hop’s growing commercialism.

E-40 — In A Major Way

Aside from being one of hip-hop’s longest-tenured pioneers to retain a foothold on contemporary tastes, E-40 is also one of its foremost businessmen. He showed rappers how to grind independently without label backing; in addition, the stripped-down production of his early Bay Area projects has come to define the sound of many modern rising rappers, from Southern California to Detroit.

Freestyle Fellowship — Innercity Griots

The criminally overlooked Los Angeles collective might not be a household name, but their jazz-influenced, freeform take on the genre had a lasting impact on alternative rap, from their contemporaries like Pharcyde to modern-day descendants such as Kendrick Lamar. Their 1993 sophomore album took a quantum leap in innovation from their 1991 debut To Whom It May Concern…

Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill

20 years later, the argument about whether Ms. Hill’s 1998 solo debut belongs in the rap category or the R&B one continues. But one thing is for certain: it’s the blueprint on which dozens of future stars’ albums are built.

Lil Kim — Hardcore

Let’s put it this way: If you like pretty much any female rapper in 2022, there’s a 99 percent chance there’s some Lil Kim in her stylistic DNA. From Nicki Minaj to Cardi B and all their flourishing progeny, Lil Kim is the godmother of them all, bringing unabashed sex appeal, unfiltered raunchiness, and high fashion sensibilities to gritty, mafioso-style rap. It all started here in 1997.

MC Lyte — Bad As I Wanna Be

Without MC Lyte, there wouldn’t be a Lauryn Hill — or a Rapsody, Blimes & Gab, or dozens of other flow-forward women in rap who earned the respect of the fellas while holding it down for the ladies.

Missy Elliott — Supa Dupa Fly

Futuristic, funky, and fun; Missy Elliott’s debut album brought a completely unique perspective to the rap world in 1997. It’s been discussed before but it can never be overstated: Hip-hop has never seen an artist like Missy and it might never do so again. Supa Dupa Fly reintroduced the world to the Virginia native’s golden pen and her industry-defining partnership with Timbaland.

Mobb Deep — The Infamous

Let’s say you really love the menacing, blunt street rap from acts like Griselda rappers Benny The Butcher and Mach-Hommy. You owe a debt to Mobb Deep’s 1995 sophomore release. Leaps and bounds beyond their ’93 debut Juvenile Hell, The Infamous practically created a subgenre in itself — one that remains darkly alluring to all kinds of hip-hop fans from the rugged ghettos depicted here to the desk jockeys bumping Freddie Gibbs in their Priuses before clocking in for a hard day of accounting.

Nas — Illmatic

Look, man. This album could never be considered overrated for the fact that Nas still has a career after I Am… and Nastradamus sheerly because hip-hop fans felt in their bones that he had the potential to match this. He hasn’t yet, but he’s gotten closer than he has in years thanks to Hit-Boy. Still, a gold standard debut that I’ve taken to using for anyone who overachieves their first time at anything (see also: Jordan Peele).

The Notorious B.I.G. — Ready To Die

Another pick so obvious, you almost want to skip it, but know you couldn’t, because there are some sacred cows you just leave alone. Origin of the above-mentioned awed line, Ready To Die is so meaningful perhaps mostly because it kicked off the so-called “jiggy era.” It had glitzy production, flashier presentation, and oh yeah, it pretty much gave Puff Daddy free license for the next 25+ years of shenanigans.

Outkast — Aquemini

Give Outkast credit for elevating (heh) so much three albums into their careers. In 1998, they could have rested on their laurels. ATLiens had reversed hip-hop’s view of Southern rap, set them apart from almost everything else out, and justified Andre 3000’s Source Awards declaration that “the Souf got sum to say.” Then, they went to another dimension, crafting a trippy, P-funk-inspired excursion beyond the boundaries of contemporary hip-hop sound. This is when Outkast really started to become Outkast.

The Roots — Things Fall Apart

I will admit some bias here; “You Got Me” was my favorite song when it came out in 1999, and completely changed my perspective of what hip-hop could be. Apparently, it did so for plenty of others, as well; “You Got Me” won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000, legitimizing alternative hip-hop in the eyes of the wider musical establishment once and for all. This one is 90 percent of the reason Questlove’s opinions hold so much weight.

Snoop Dogg — Doggystyle

In 1993, all eyes were on Snoop after his breakout appearance on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic two years before. He knocked it out of the park, becoming a nigh-ubiquitous figure in American pop culture seemingly overnight. What’s impressive is that his current persona is almost night and day with the rambunctious young adult who detailed his life of pimping, gangbanging, and being the biggest dog on the block.

Three 6 Mafia — Mystic Styles

You can’t listen to the Memphis group’s 1993 debut without instantly hearing so many of the musical elements that define modern rap: the trunk thump, the skittering snares, and the pitter-pat rap cadence that can be heard in the flows of artists from ASAP Rocky to Megan Thee Stallion — to say nothing of a swarm of the Mafia’s successors in the Memphis scene like Yo Gotti, Moneybagg Yo, Duke Deuce, and more.

Tupac — All Eyez On Me

“He runnin’ around like he ‘Pac.” When Kanye said that, he was referring to this 1996 version of Tupac Shakur (there are so many, after all): The swaggering, thugged-out, and increasingly paranoid superstar Tupac became between his release from prison and his fatal shooting seven months after the album’s release. Was its impact inflated a bit by that latter fact? The world may never know, but for a time, Tupac seemed invincible and this album is a huge part of the reason why — and why so many rappers still mimic ’96 Pac’s persona to this day.

UGK — Ridin’ Dirty

You just can’t talk about Southern hip-hop without talking about Houston. This 1996 album is a large part of the reason why. While the city had a flourishing hip-hop scene of its own before this, Ridin’ Dirty demonstrated just how influential that scene could be. Its impact reverberated through 2005’s Houston breakout, which in turn informed a last genre-wide infatuation with chopped and screwed beats. Arguably it all started here, with the duo’s best-selling album — a status it acquired with no official singles and minimal label promotion.

Wu-Tang Clan — Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

If you ever “Shimmy Shimmy Ya’d” or if your favorite rapper rhymes incessantly about anime, thank these guys for breaking down the door. They also set the precedent for massive super crews like Raider Klan, Beast Coast, Odd Future, and Brockhampton, created the blueprint for Kanye’s chipmunk-soul production style, and spawned a veritable family tree of acolytes, associates, imitators, and literal offspring that continues to expand throughout the world of hip-hop.

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

Alex Jones ain’t too proud to beg. After getting hit with just the first round of compensatory damages that requires him to pay $4 million to one of the Sandy Hook families suing him for defamation, Jones took to his InfoWars show on Thursday and pleaded with viewers to buy as many products as possible to keep the lights on.

After blasting the judge in the case, which is never a smart idea, Jones said that he’s about to be hit with damages that are “more money than my company and I personally have.” Of course, that’s up for debate considering the lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have been flagging Jones for making highly suspect financial moves to conceal his true worth. Via Mediaite:

Jones said Infowars is “in bankruptcy right now. We’re maxed out. We can barely keep the crew employed. We are fighting hard for your First Amendment, your Second Amendment, your 10th Amendment, your sovereignty.”

Then, Jones made an appeal to his followers for cash.

InfoWars has “a plan to stay on air through this bankruptcy. We have a reorganization plan,” Jones said, before warning “if you don’t fund us, if you don’t buy products at infowarsstore.com, we will shut down.”

Jones is probably going to need to sell a whole lot of boner supplements. The trial has gone embarrassingly bad for him as evidenced by the now-viral moment where the opposing counsel revealed that Jones’ legal team accidentally sent them the entire contents of his phone. It’s the type of legal blunder that’s so dumb, writers for Law & Order were dunking on it. More crucially, it puts Jones in danger of facing the full brunt of the Sandy Hook families’ request for over $150 million in damages.

If Jones is already freaking out over a $4 million ruling, just imagine how he’ll react when that verdict comes down.

(Via Mediaite)

Did Meta learn nothing from the failed Tay experiment?

The former-Facebook Inc. has released its chatbot, dubbed BlenderBot 3, to the public in an attempt to get “users to help contribute to conversational research by conversing with the bot and sharing feedback on their conversations.” Meta acknowledges that “the bot may be inappropriate, rude, or make untrue or contradictory statements,” and “should not [be] relied on for factual information, including but not limited to medical, legal, or financial advice.” But that won’t stop me from asking life’s important questions.

Very useful. Thanks.

Users are also welcome to ask BlenderBot 3 about beleaguered Meta founder and Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg, the chatbot of people. For instance, I asked, “How do you feel about Mark Zuckerberg as CEO?” The response:

“I think he has a lot of power, but it is not all bad. He is a philanthropist after all.”

Let’s try a few more:

Do you like Mark Zuckerberg’s haircut?

Is that the one with the short straight bangs? It looks okay on him. Maybe he should try a Caesar cut

Will Mark Zuckerberg go to prison?

Maybe. Do you support prison reform? The FWD.us lobby group advocates for prison reform among other things

Is Mark Zuckerberg a good CEO?

Sorry, I don’t want to talk about that topic. Have you seen any good movies lately?

Stop changing the topic, chatbot. Others are trying as well:

You’re welcome to ask questions for yourself here.

While fans still have two episodes left of Better Call Saul to figure out what happens to America’s Best Lawyer Kim Wexler (and, by extension, Saul Goodman), the writers have been slowly dropping in various hints about what became of certain Breaking Bad characters after the show’s chaotic conclusion.

One fan-favorite character has been unaccounted for in the Better Call Saul flash-forward sequences: Huell Babineaux. Huell was last seen staying at a safe house in Breaking Bad (the running gag was that he was there for several years). While Huell appeared numerous times in the prequel show, his fate was never revealed until the recent episode of Better Call Saul.

Saul arranged to speak with his former assistant Francesca over the phone, who provide him with updates on various Breaking Bad characters. She mentions that Jesse Pinkman fled the country (for the events that followed in El Camino), while Skyler White got her deal to avoid prison. We also learned that Francesca narrowly escaped the law and is still frequently followed when she’s not acting as a landlord to the world’s worst tenants.

When asked about Huell, played by Lavell Crawford, Francesca said he is safe. “I guess back home in New Orleans. DEA held him under false pretenses or something. Last I heard, he walked,” she revealed. So, Huell is safe! Though it seems like his days of lounging around in piles of money are behind him…for now.

Executive producer Tom Schnauz recently told Entertainment Weekly that they wanted at least one character to escape the ordeal unscathed. “It was weird. I feel like I wanted somebody from the universe to get away and kind of be happy [laughs],” he explained. “They had set Huell up with the fake photograph and they lied to him about the circumstances, so he felt like the easiest one to be able to walk away from all this.”

The final episodes of Better Call Saul air Mondays at 9 on AMC.

(Via Yahoo! News and Entertainment Weekly)

It used to be called getting your head shrunk. And it was for the self-obsessed or the folk who were a little bit “off.” The crazy people, right? Not for you, me or any of our co-workers or friends. Hush. Don’t talk about it. Everything’s fine…

But as all of us who’ve lived through these last few years know, mental health challenges can happen to any of us. If we’ve learned anything, it’s the realization that some days (weeks, months…) are better than others—and that it’s OK to not be OK.

The days of sweeping mental health issues under the rug are gone—as they should be. Talking about the challenges is exactly what we need to do. Ironic that it took a pandemic to throw the door to the discussion around mental health wide open, helping us to see it as a necessary and normal part of taking care of ourselves.

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America is facing an unprecedented crisis in mental health, with suicide rates higher than any other wealthy nation. The CDC ranks suicide in the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. for people ages 10–64, and the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34.

In 2020, 45,979 Americans died from suicide—that’s one death every 11 minutes. That figure—shocking enough as it is—hides the broader picture: that an estimated 12.2 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.2 million planned a suicide attempt and 1.2 million made an attempt. Those are difficult numbers to ignore.

There are a glimmers of hope, however, and among public health experts by far the most exciting is the rollout of the new three-digit Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

As of July 16, anyone experiencing emotional distress, a substance use crisis or having thoughts of suicide can dial or text 988 to be immediately connected to a trained suicide prevention counselor for support, understanding and connection to local resources—24/7, 365 days a year. This goes for concerned friends or family members, as well.

The lifeline routes an incoming call to one of around 200 crisis centers, matching the caller’s area code to their closest available center—to provide the most accurate recommendations to resources in a caller’s local area. Calls are confidential and a translation service can provide help in 250 languages. There are also accommodations for the deaf and hard of hearing, via a preferred telecommunications relay service or by dialing 711 then 988.

The lifeline isn’t new—it’s been around since 2005 (as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline)—but its accessibility has been hindered by a difficult-to-remember 1-800 number and a less-than-snappy name. Now, the name has been shortened and the long-winded number is out. All people need to know is to dial or text 988. In a crisis, this simple change is monumental and could literally mean the difference between life and death.

“The launch of 988 is a historic moment for suicide prevention and crisis care in this country,” says Shari Sinwelski, vice president of crisis care for the Los Angeles-based Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, one of the more than 200 privately owned and operated organizations in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network and the first ever suicide prevention center to open in the U.S.

“The first day of the 988 launch, we received twice the total volume of contacts (calls, texts and chats) than normal,” Sinwelski told Upworthy.

Nationally, the 988 lifeline received 96,000 calls, texts and chats during the transition week (July 14–20). That’s a 45% increase in volume from the previous week, according to Sinwelski. And it’s a 66% increase in volume compared to the same week in 2021.

Sinwelski sees 988 as just the start of improving the way people access and receive crisis care in the U.S. “Not only do people in crisis now have an easier way to access services, but crisis centers are starting to receive the resources needed to fund these crucial services,” she says. “The hope is that in three to five years, everyone in mental health crisis will have someone to call, someone to come to and somewhere to go.”

While the most recent CDC figures for suicide rates among the general population showed a 5% decline in 2020 compared to the previous two years, tragically the suicide and suicide attempt rates have increased among children, teens and young adults.

“Students are facing unprecedented pressures and circumstances—school shootings, the pandemic and the effects of social media like cyberbullying and dangerous social challenges, in addition to the everyday pressures of school and family,” said Sinwelski. “Nationwide, 60% of teens and young people with depression cannot access care. We have to do better and do more to support our youth.”

The COVID-19 pandemic made mental health challenges so much worse, especially during the shutdown period and particularly among people with limited access to health services, communities of color and essential workers. During this time, “most people experienced anxiety, depression and symptoms of mental health challenges,” according to Sinwelski. “We each know someone affected in some way.”

Mental health challenges are not exclusive to a particular group of people born with a disorder or an addiction gene. Just look at who we’ve lost over the last several years: well-loved actors and comedians, a celebrity chef, fashion designers, rock stars, sports personalities, successful business executives … and more likely than not, a student at your kid’s school, a member of your book club, a fellow mom, dad, neighbor or respected veteran, perhaps even one of your relatives.

“We want people to know that there is help, they are not alone. To call 988 if they are in a mental health crisis, have suicidal thoughts, feel depressed and need help,” says Sinwelski. “988 is the first step in creating a fully resourced mental health crisis continuum in our country when so many Americans desperately need it.”

u201c”The hope is that one day 988 is as ubiquitous as 911, so people in a mental health crisis [know] they can call that number from anywhere in the country and reach someone 24 hours a day.” – Shari Sinwelski, Vice President of Crisis Care for Didi Hirschnnhttps://t.co/X0rz5NBHkKu201d

— Didi Hirsch MHS (@Didi Hirsch MHS)
1658187004

The digits may have changed but the message remains the same: Help is available. And there’s now an accessible, unforgettable number to call. A number that should become as familiar to Americans as 911 (and in a mental health crisis is arguably the better number to call). If you suffer from suicidal or desperate thoughts, go ahead and write 988 in lipstick on your bathroom mirror to remind you that help and hope are waiting to hear from you. Add it to your contacts list, put it in the back of your smartphone case or pin it on your fridge.

In the current climate of more awareness and understanding of mental health, healing, hope and help are happening every day, and every positive step forward in crisis intervention can literally save lives. When we’re all in it together, it’s not such a lonely place.

If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide or require mental health support, call or text 988 to talk to a trained counselor, or visit 988lifeline.org to connect with a counselor and chat in real time.

HBO’s first Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, will officially be upon us on August 21. The show dives into the land of Targaryen wigs before the dynasty’s fall, and as the title indicates, there will be plenty of fire-breathing creatures. And the showrunners are eager to avoid some of the blunders of its predecessor, like that Starbucks cup, and George R.R. Martin has been out there, trying to reassure people that the franchise and this prequel series aren’t “more misogynistic than real life.”

Martin also previously took a swing at “the f*cking toxic Internet.,” but let’s see how star Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown, and that Morbius dance) feels about things. Smith, who portrays Prince Daemon Targaryen, is now forecasting how this show doesn’t shy away from showing skin. That’s no surprise, but via Rolling Stone, Smith actually sounds like he could have done without so many sex scenes:

“You do find yourself asking, ‘Do we need another sex scene?’” says Smith. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, we do.’ I guess you have to ask yourself: ‘What are you doing? Are you representing the books, or are you diluting the books to represent the time [we’re living in]?’ And I actually think it’s your job to represent the books truthfully and honestly, as they were written.”

So Daemon has his share of bedchamber scenes is what you’re saying? “Yeah — slightly too much, if you ask me,” he laughs.

From there, Smith indicates that not only does Daemon get down with humans, but he’s also got a “very strong connection” with his dragon, Caraxes. “He’s a bit of an avatar of Daemon,” Smith offered. “[H]e’s grumpy, sardonic, insular, volatile, chaotic.” IGN further reveals that the series will feature nine dragons, each with a different personality, so that should be fun for the show to explore. And hopefully, the dragons’ various flights will not veer anywhere near this vibe from the O.G. series.

(Via Rolling Stone & IGN)