Category: News

It’s nearly been a month since Kendrick Lamar dropped his long-awaited fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The project, which presented 18 songs and guest appearances from Blxst, Summer Walker, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Sampha, Ghostface Killah, and more, left fans with a lot to talk about. There was Kendrick’s push back against cancel culture, Kodak Black’s multiple appearances on the album, and more. Another notable moment from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was “We Cry Together,” which found Kendrick in an extremely heated argument with his girlfriend who is played by actress Taylour Paige.

Some have criticized the song, which plays more like a skit despite its rhyme scheme, while others have found it a bit enjoyable. Nonetheless, the experience attached to “We Cry Together” is about to continue as Kendrick Lamar is set to bring the album to a Los Angeles theater. According to HipHop-N-More, a short film for “We Cry Together” will premiere at the Laemmle Royal Theater in West Los Angeles for the next six days. The film, which is billed as “a performance from Taylour Paige and Kendrick Lamar,” premieres today at the theater and it will be available there until June 9.

The news about the film comes after “We Cry Together” had one of the biggest drops on the Billboard singles chart.

You can view a picture of the Laemmle Royal Theater above and purchase tickets for the “We Cry Together” short film here.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/Aftermath/TDE/Interscope. You can stream it here.

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

Everyone’s going to see Top Gun: Maverick, but they’re also watching another movie at home: the original Top Gun. The highest grosser of 1986 made Tom Cruise, already popular from Risky Business, into the megastar he’s been ever since (minus a brief stint in the mid-aughts when people thought he was a weirdo). It’s also a much, much stranger film than its belated sequel: jingoistic, overly Reaganistic, and, as Quentin Tarantino once detailed in the mid-’90s indie Sleep with Me, pretty damn homoerotic.

Perhaps the most homoerotic part of the movie (apart from Val Kilmer’s Iceman telling Cruise’s Maverick he can “be my wingman anytime”) is a wildly over-the-top montage in which our ripped flyboys take a break from flying and learning to play volleyball. On the film’s commentary track, director Tony Scott admitted he was forced to shoot the scene by the studio, who wanted to make the film more like a sports movie than a war picture. So he gave them what they wanted: He says he “slicked the boys up with baby oil” and “shot it like a softcore porno.” The song playing is Kenny Loggins’ “Playing with the Boys.”

Well, that’s not exactly what studio execs wanted. On THR‘s podcast Behind the Screen, the original film’s editors described what they were actually looking for. “That scene was scripted as a real game,” said Chris Lebenzon. “They kept score and everything — and Tony shot it like a commercial, and they were angry.”

“The studio was so pissed off,” fellow editor Billy Weber added. “The head of production, Charlie McGuire, he said, ‘I’m gonna fire him’ … because he spent a whole day shooting this scene.”

The new Top Gun has a similar scene, but this time it’s football on the beach, and even with almost everyone shirtless and glistening, it’s not remotely as homoerotic. Indeed, contrast it with the one from the original, which you can watch below:

(Via THR)

MAGA types have a habit of occasionally telling the truth. They don’t mean to. It’s usually Freudian slip. It will be Donald Trump accidentally blurting out the words “I didn’t win the [2020] election.” Or it will be Louie Gohmert letting slip that things are so bad for Republicans that they “can’t even lie” to Congress or the FBI, as he did on Friday.

Gohmert went on Newsmax to complain about the indictment and arrest of Peter Navarro, the former Trump aide who was one of a number of associates who defied subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. Gohmert, like many in the GOP, is not happy that Department of Justice head Merrick Garland is actually acting on the criminal charges issued by lawmakers.

“It actually puts an exclamation point on the fact that we have a two-tiered justice system,” Gohmert railed. “If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they’re coming after you. They’re gonna bury you. They’re gonna put you in the D.C. jail and terrorize and torture you and not live up to the Constitution there.”

Gohmert thought it was a double standard, alleging that Democrats lie, while perhaps accidentally admitting that Republicans do just that. “So [it’s] very clear,” he said. “If you’re a Democrat, then you can lie. You can cheat. You can do whatever you want.”

Gohmert’s slip alarmed even fellow conservatives.

Others weren’t that shocked.

Others were reminded that he’s not the sharpest tool in a shed with plenty of non-sharp tools.

The Texas representative, who assumed office in 2005 but came to prominence a few years later in the Tea Party era, was seen recently melting down over another issue: that Republicans keep getting accused of heartlessness for not doing anything to curb mass shootings, even after children die. He’s also notable for losing a tooth during a press conference about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.

(Via The Hill)

The fate of Young Thug, Gunna, and other YSL members most likely won’t be known until January 2023. That’s because both Young Thug and Gunna had their bond denied in the RICO case against them that began last month when a 56-count case against 28 members was unveiled. Gunna’s bond was denied as he was accused of having a “command” role in YSL while Young Thug was labeled a possible danger to the community when his bond was denied. Since the case began, Georgia’s RICO case has been criticized for multiple reasons, including the fact that song lyrics are being used in court.

YFN Lucci’s lawyer Drew Findling, aka the “Billion Dollar Lawyer,” was the latest person to criticize the RICO law. He did so during a recent conversation with TMZ. “I think we’ve exaggerated what gangs are in Atlanta,” he said. “I think we’ve exaggerated what RICO is Atlanta. We need to take a look at just going ahead and charging people based on their lyrics and musical aspirations and their First Amendment right to express themselves. We’re not really indicting anybody from Quentin Tarantino films, are we?”

Findling continued, “We’re not indicting anybody for, ‘I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot the deputy down,’ but all of a sudden we’ve handpicked this music, this music aspiration, and this music of people in the Black and brown community and it’s completely f*cking racist and that’s what it is.”

In addition to representing Lucci, who is currently behind bars on a RICO charge and has ties to the YSL RICO case, Findling has also represented Gucci Mane, Offset, and DaBaby in the past.

You can watch Findling share his thoughts with TMZ here.

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

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot is still amassing intel, from participants both willing and not-so-willing. A number of those in Donald Trump’s close circle have defied subpoenas. They have thus been held in contempt of Congress, and even indicted, though they had evaded jail time — at least until now. On Friday, a federal jury indicted Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump. He was briefly incarcerated, and when he was released, his rant to reporters was so unhinged MSNBC cut away from him mid-sentence.

Navarro was indicted on two charges of criminal contempt for refusing to comply with the House committee’s subpoena. Authorities apprehended him while he was attempting to board a plane in Nashville, and he remained in custody until he appeared in court to be arraigned. Upon his release, a visibly flustered Navarro railed against his treatment to the press.

“They intercepted me gettin’ on the plane and then they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here,” Navarro railed. “They put me in leg irons. They stick me in a cell.” He also pointed out that the same cell s John Hinckley Jr., who had attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 and who is set to be released on June 15.

Navarro’s panicky, unfocused ramblings evidently annoyed staffers at MSNBC, who decided to cut away from him, leaving anchor John Heilemann to decry his splutterings.

“I am a devotee of breaking news as much as anyone, but only so much bug-eyed gibberish that we can tolerate here and that is mostly what we’re hearing from Peter Navarro,” Heilemann said.

Navarro had actually appeared on MSNBC the day before, threatening payback for the Jan. 6 committee. “I will take Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin and Nancy Pelosi and Elaine Luria and all of those clowns and kangaroos,” Navarro told them. “I’ll take Biden and every single senior staff member in there, I will put them with subpoenas, and we’ll start with the impeachment of Biden for Ukraine, the southern border, all manner of things he is guilty of.”

But that may be difficult for him to do, at least in the near future. You can watch MSNBC’s cutaway in the video above.

(Via Insider and Raw Story)

Earlier this week, the BET Awards unveiled the list of nominations for its upcoming show later this month. Doja Cat led the way with six nominations in categories that include best female R&B/pop artist, best female hip-hop artist, and album of the year. Elsewhere, Ari Lennox and Drake were tied for the second-most nominations as they can both be found in four categories. With that being said, there was a glaring absence in the list of nominees, with that being Lil Nas X, and fans were not happy about it. Lil Nas himself expressed his frustration at the snub in a pair of now-deleted tweets.

“Thank you bet awards,” he wrote in one of the tweets. “An outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence!” He later added, “I just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible.” Many agreed that Lil Nas should’ve been nominated, including Queen Latifah, who shared her thoughts after a run-in with TMZ.

“Lil Nas X is amazing,” she said. “He should’ve been nominated.” Despite this, Latifah didn’t seem to think that his sexuality was behind the snub. “I don’t know if that’s the case. I don’t know what’s behind all that, but inclusion is always the key. That’s what we should be striving for. There’s enough room in this world for everybody.”

You can view Queen Latifah’s interaction with TMZ here.

Morbius was that rarest of beasts: a comic book movie that dramatically underperforms. The Jared Leto-starrer couldn’t even blame the pandemic, which no longer keeps younger (or, now, older) audiences at home. But the poorly-reviewed film has enjoyed an irony-soaked second life: It became a target for jokey memes, which became so popular that the film is getting a theatrical Mulligan. Now even the film’s star is getting on the action.

The Oscar-winner posted a video on Twitter, which finds him sitting on a couch, idly paging through a script. The cameraperson asks what he’s looking at. He feigns disinterest, eventually letting us see the title: Morbius 2: It’s Morbin’ Time, credited to one “Bartholomew Cubbins.” (Real Dr. Seuss heads know that’s the hero of his deepish cut book The 500 Hats of Bartholmew Cubbins.)

It’s an example of an actor trying to show there’s no hard feelings that a pet project became something of a joke. Indeed, over the last two weeks the movie has repeatedly trended on Twitter, and not because fans adore it. That may have been enough to get it back on screens — albeit in limited capacity; in New York City, the film is mostly consigned to a single, mid-evening showing — but it probably won’t get a sequel.

Among the details that caused the movie’s infamy is reports from the set, which revealed yet more wacko Leto tomfoolery. A committed (but not technically Method) actor, he stayed in character to such an extent that he even took 45 minutes to go to the bathroom, before the crew started pushing him around in a wheelchair so they could stay on schedule. Alas, he might not get another chance to do that again.

The relationship between former president Donald Trump and his old number two, Mike Pence, seems to have finally come to an end. But while the ex-vice president has admitted Trump’s voter fraud lies were “wrong,” he’s never formally turned on him, even after he defended supporters who wanted him dead. Still, details have emerged over the last year-and-a-half that indicate that he feared for his life the day of the Jan. 6 riot. Now we’re learning his staff was worried even before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

A new report from The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reveals that, on Jan. 5, Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, contacted Tim Giebels, the vice president’s lead Secret Service agent, to deliver a warning: Trump was almost certainly going to publicly turn on Pence, endangering his life. It was, in fact, the only time over the last four years that Short had been formally worried about his boss’s safety.

As per NYT:

Mr. Short did not know what form such a security risk might take, according to people familiar with the events. But after days of intensifying pressure from Mr. Trump on Mr. Pence to take the extraordinary step of intervening in the certification of the Electoral College count to forestall Mr. Trump’s defeat, Mr. Short seemed to have good reason for concern. The vice president’s refusal to go along was exploding into an open and bitter breach between the two men at a time when the president was stoking the fury of his supporters who were streaming into Washington.

The warning not only further demonstrates the chasm that grew between Trump and Pence, but also shows that fear of what Trump would do in his final days in office went to the highest levels of government.

It’s not clear what Giebels did with this information, but Short’s prophecy came true: More than 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, some of them chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” Trump never once contacted Pence to see if he was okay.

The news led some on social media to some disturbing conclusions, including that Pence knew what a threat Trump was to not only himself but to democracy — and continues to do nothing.

Also of note, Haberman discovered this while researching her forthcoming book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, which isn’t due to hit shelves until October. But unlike some Trump book authors, who’ve held onto damning intel until they’re published, so as to sell more books, Haberman released this bit early, when it could make a difference.

(Via NYT)

Doechii is one of this year’s buzziest artists after dropping cinematic videos for her songs “Crazy” and “Persuasive,” as well as having gone viral on TikTok with her “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” sound. Unfortunately, the latest news from the TDE-backed rapper isn’t great. While she was away on vacation, Doechii took to her Instagram story to share that her dog was eaten by a coyote.

“My dog got eaten by a coyote today,” she said in a now-deleted post, “so I’m not sure how to continue on with the vacation.”

She has since posted clips from her vacation on her story, however, it is unclear if those clips were previously recorded or recorded in real-time.

Following the news about her dog, rapper JT from City Girls took to Twitter to express support for Doechii.

“so sorry this happened to her,” said JT, “especially while she’s away.”

JT faced a similar incident last month, while she was out of town, however, her dogs remained unharmed.

“So while I was out of town a coyote tried to get in the yard to get my puppies while they was playing,” said JT in a tweet, “now I’m sad & don’t want them to play outside no more!”

Mariah Carey is being sued for copyright infringement for her Billboard chart-topping Christmas hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” A singer named Andy Stone is claiming that he wrote a song of the same title and is now seeking $20 million in damages from Carey.

According to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Stone is claiming that he recorded his song back in 1989, five years before Carey’s song was released. He also said that his song received a good amount of airplay in 1993 and cracked the Billboard charts. He says he also filmed a music video for the song.

There’s no denying the impact Carey’s song has had more than 27 years after its release. While the song has held up as a Christmastime classic over the course of nearly three decades, the song surprisingly didn’t reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 until 2019, 25 years after its official release. Each year after that, the song went No. 1 again, making it the first song in history to go No. 1 in four separate years.

Last year, Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was certified diamond by the RIAA, selling over 10 million units. The song also pulled in over 1 billion streams on Spotify.