Category: News

We love when rappers share their picks for the top five rappers. It gives us insights into their influences and creative processes. It often vindicates some of our most deeply held beliefs about the culture and genre. It puts newer or younger fans (sometimes older) onto a broader range of artists to check out. And, of course, it gives us an endless well of fuel for our most cherished Twitter debate, ensuring that we’ll have enough fat to chew on until the sun burns out.

The latest rapper to contribute to the long-running tradition is Lil Wayne, whose list is quite a doozy, containing both the expected picks and some left-field surprises that actually make sense when you consider his own unique approach to the art of rap. Wayne gave his answer in a special edition of What’s Wright? With Nick Wright, a podcast version of the Fox Sports personality’s popular show.

Almost as well known for his affinity for hip-hop as Wayne is for his sports referencing raps, Wright offers his own list (a pretty humdrum collection including the usual picks: Jay-Z, Tupac, Wayne himself, Kanye West, and T.I.), which Wayne says he respects. Then Wayne starts off his own list with a pick that far too few people include for my taste, Missy Elliott. Vindication!

Missy is a pick that makes perfect sense for Wayne — a quirky writer and performer who outright avoids convention and whose influence resonates throughout the industry, even if she rarely gets credit for it. Good one on Wayne for including her. Of course, Jay-Z enters his list (he’s repeatedly said that the Brooklyn rapper is his favorite MC ever). He also credits Biggie and Gucci Mane — another interesting pick, although not wholly unexpected from a Southerner like Wayne. Guwop’s influence throughout the bottom half of the States is undeniable and inextricable. His last pick is pretty mind-blowing though.

He cheats a little by picking a group, but rather than a well-worn, oft-tapped collective like Wu-Tang Clan, Wayne once again shows his Southern roots by choosing Atlanta mainstays Goodie Mob, a four-man band that includes Big Gipp, CeeLo Green, Khujo, and T-Mo. Their debut album, Soul Food,
is considered a classic and as part of the Dungeon Family, they worked extensively with Outkast and Organized Noise, two of the most pivotal groups in Southern rap.

Not a bad list, all things considered. And like I said before, pretty telling when you compare Wayne’s influences to his output. It’s easy to see why he goes against the grain so much and the results so often turn out so well.

Check out Lil Wayne’s full interview with Nick Wright above.

Of all the bad takes to come from the leaking of Justice Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court draft opinion about overturning Roe v. Wade, and setting America and women’s health care back by a half-century, Trevor Noah believes that Newsmax might have the worst take of all.

Like many sane and logical people, The Daily Show host finds it kind of bizarre that so many people seem more concerned with the actual leaking of the document than the fact that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn a basic right to health care that women have had for 50 years. “It’s weird,” said Noah. “It’s like running around the deck of the Titanic trying to find out who yelled, ‘We’re sinking!’ instead of focusing on the iceberg.”

But if he had to pick one clear winner in the quest to determine who could come up with the most offensive and racist response to the leak, that award would go to Newsmax. Because while the rest of the talking heads at Fox News were busy playing the world’s most boring game of Clue, Noah claims that “Newsmax had already closed the case: It was the Black woman!”

Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield told viewers that he “found it suspect that the first leak coming out of the Supreme Court, in history, comes shortly after Judge Jackson is confirmed. She would be my first suspect when it comes to the leak.”

Noah’s response couldn’t have been more on-point: “And my first suspect for a**hole is YOU! Is YOU! Bravo, detective, bravo. Look at you, using the tried-and-true investigative technique of ‘the Black person did it.’”

You can watch the full clip above.

You would think that the president of Brazil would have better things to do than feud with the star of Titanic (and that’s coming from an American). But Jair Bolsonaro told Leonardo DiCaprio to “keep your mouth shut” after the actor called on Brazilians to vote for environmentalist candidates. “Brazil is home to the Amazon and other ecosystems critical to climate change. What happens there matters to us all and youth voting is key in driving change for a healthy planet,” he tweeted, along with a link to register to vote.

In response, Bolsonaro said, “DiCaprio has to know that it was the very president of the World Trade Organization who said that without Brazilian agribusiness, the world would be hungry. So, DiCaprio better keep his mouth shut instead of talking nonsense.”

Destruction of the world’s largest rainforest has surged since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 and weakened environmental protections, arguing that they hinder economic development that could reduce poverty in the Amazon region. In October, a group of climate lawyers urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Bolsonaro for his alleged attacks on the Amazon, which they said amount to “crimes against humanity.”

There’s two kinds of crimes against humanity: there’s actual crimes against humanity, like destroying the rainforest, and there’s the crime against humanity that is “Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar.” One is a slightly bigger crime than the other.

(Via CNN)

Geraldo Rivera and Greg Gutfeld (!) are like the Statler and Waldorf of Fox News, if Statler and Waldorf were devoid of any charm and both regularly made asses of themselves on live television (Al Capone’s vault included). The Five co-hosts regularly get fiery and butt heads on the talk show, and occasionally make up in the end. Yesterday was not one of those days.

On Wednesday, as The Daily Beast reports, the pair had yet another showdown—this time over, yep, you guessed it: abortion.

While the conversation was largely about Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion, it turned into something much more juvenile—at least for Gutfield, who truly is a king of dumb takes or just likes to play the role for ratings. Whatever the case, he clearly got bored listening to Rivera lament the possible upheaval of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. “What am I going to tell my daughters now?” Rivera wondered. “That they don’t have control over their body? That they can’t make those choices for themselves?”

When Gutfeld ultimately decided to chime in, it was basically to say that pro-lifers have it easy because they have the better elevator pitch on their viewpoint. “This is why pro-lifers win,” he said. “Because they can state their case so plainly. You ask somebody why they’re pro-life and they’ll say: ‘Because abortion takes a life, and we believe that life is sacred.’ You can disagree with that, but you can’t disagree with the simplicity of it, right? But the problem with the pro-choicers is that they don’t have the balls to state their cases plainly. Just say, like, ‘I prefer freedom over fetuses.’”

When Geraldo interjected with “My Body, My Choice: How much simpler can you get?,” Gutfeld was not ready to hand over the spotlight. And he went in pretty hard by determining that while abortion used to be considered “a necessary evil… Now, when you go anywhere on social media, it’s something to celebrate, to cherish,” which is something only a person lacking a vagina would say. And Geraldo called “baloney!” on him (yes, he actually said “baloney”). And he didn’t stop there.

A now pissed-off Geraldo told Gutfeld that he was “arrogant” and an “insulting punk”—who description Gutfeld seemed to relish.

You can watch the full exchange above.

(Via The Daily Beast)

On Wednesday, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame announced its class of 2022: Dolly Parton, Eminem, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Eurythmics, and Pat Benatar. The New York Times called it as “a musically diverse array of inductees,” which is certainly true. Taken on their own merits, each new Hall Of Famer is … fine. Totally, totally … fine! But these things are never taken solely “on their own merits.” Anyone who cares — and caring about the Rock Hall qualifies as questionable behavior, I acknowledge — can’t help but note who’s not yet in.

I started voting for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2021, after spending much of my professional career blowing raspberries at the institution. But for all of my criticisms of the Rock Hall, I figured that if this thing is going to exist, I want to have a (very small) say in who gets in. Though as a voter, you only have so much power. Each year, the nominating committee picks in the neighborhood of 20 acts for consideration, and voters pick up to five of those nominees on their ballots. Write-ins are not allowed. (If they were, I would have put WARREN ZEVON in big block letters on all of my ballots.)

It’s no secret that a great number of worthy artists are not in the Rock Hall. In many cases, I understand why, sort of. I suppose John Prine doesn’t seem “rock” enough for the voters? Kate Bush probably isn’t famous enough in America? Most people only know Thin Lizzy for one song, I guess? But there is one glaring bias that I really don’t understand. For all of the focus on producing “a musically diverse array of inductees” — an important goal, for sure — the Rock Hall historically has shown little to no apparent interest in honoring much of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful rock music of the last 40 (!) years.

I’m not one of those people who complains about non-rock artists making it in the Rock Hall. I lean toward defining “rock ‘n’ roll” as loosely as possible, given that the most important artists of the genre have always been magpies who take from all kinds of music, from country to jazz to hip-hop, and everything in between. The Rock Hall should reflect that. (Congrats, Dolly!) At the same time, however, I do find it very odd that a lot of actual rock music often isn’t even considered for the Rock Hall. Sometimes, I think there’s a misconception that all of the notable rock bands have already been inducted. This could not be farther from the truth.

Now, I could be referring to any number of overlooked metal and hard rock acts from the ’70s onward, but let’s focus on one egregious oversight at a time. (Shout-out to Judas Priest for making it in this year as a “Musical Excellence” inductee. Now do Iron Maiden!) Instead, I want to talk about the Rock Hall’s weird bias against alt and indie bands.

This year, former residents of Alternative Nation Beck and Rage Against The Machine were up for induction, and passed on. Reasonable people can disagree about whether these acts are more or less important than Lionel Richie or Carly Simon. But there’s no question that the average Rock Hall voter tends to prefer pop and soft-rock stars of the ’70s and ’80s over artists who appealed to teens and young adults in the ’80s and ’90s. And that hasn’t really changed over time, even as our most iconic alt and indie legends have moved well into middle age.

So far only the highest echelon of ’90s alternative’s one percent have made it into the Rock Hall: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Foo Fighters. (Don’t forget that Radiohead, embarrassingly, was passed over on their first year of eligibility.) Now consider this partial list of notables who are not in: Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Hole, Blink-182, Blur, Ween, Tori Amos, Stone Temple Pilots, and Tool. (I could also note bands that aren’t strictly alt-rock but are alt-adjacent, like Phish, the Dave Matthews Band, Massive Attack, and the Black Crowes.)

On the ’90s indie side, you have Pavement — once described as “the finest rock band of the ’90s” by The Village Voice — on the outside looking in, along with luminaries such as PJ Harvey, Björk, Fugazi, Wilco, Liz Phair, Guided By Voices, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate, Flaming Lips, Built To Spill, and Yo La Tengo.

Maybe you like these artists, and maybe you don’t. But this is not obscure music! They all were either popular or critically adored in their time (or both), and in many cases they continue to be relevant today as legacy acts or respected brands. In terms of music history, they are obviously significant to the continuum of rock music. But the museum that purports to honor that continuum seems to think — outside of the most obvious heavy hitters — that rock music mostly ended after the Eagles broke up.

Earlier this week, Vulture ran an illuminating (by which I mean extremely irritating) interview with two unidentified Rock Hall voters, in which they candidly divulged their reasoning for who they did and didn’t vote for. Based on their responses, I assume these voters are Boomers or on the very gray end of Generation X. (One voter described themselves as “an old person in training.”) Neither of them voted for Beck or Rage Against The Machine. On the latter act, one voter remarked, “It’s too early for Rage Against the Machine. Their music holds up very well, but there are too many bands that are decades older than them that need to be inducted first. Jane’s Addiction isn’t in. Fishbone isn’t in. Get those guys in their first; then we talk about Rage Against the Machine.”

Consider that Rage Against The Machine’s landmark self-titled debut will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November. We’ve had six different presidents since that album dropped! And yet this is what passes for “too early” in the mind of at least one Rock Hall voter. Rage guitarist Tom Morello turns 58 later this month, which means he was eligible to join AARP back in 2014. But by Rock Hall standards, he’s still an inexperienced whippersnapper. Still! In 2022! And you wonder why he continues to rage against machines!

All of that aside, I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea that Fishbone or Jane’s Addiction deserve to get in before Rage Against The Machine. I’m not even that big of a Rage fan, though I did vote for them this year, because they are legitimately important as a bridge between heavy rock and hip-hop, and also because I suspected Boomer voters would ignore them. (Like Tom Morello, I’m young by Rock Hall standards. Thank you, Rock Hall!)

Here’s the thing: The Rock Hall’s record of honoring the icons of ’80s indie and alt rock is even worse than it is for the ’90s. According to the essential Future Rock Legends website, Jane’s Addiction has been nominated just once, in 2012, and was passed over, while Fishbone has never even been nominated. But wait! It gets so much worse! Let me put it this way: Not a single band from Michael Azerrad’s classic 2001 book about ’80s American indie rock, Our Band Could Be Your Life, is in the Rock Hall. Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission Of Burma, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Mudhoney, Beat Happening — it’s a big 0-for-13.

Look again at all those names! How in the hell can you tell the story of rock ‘n’ roll without including a single one of them? As for the ’80s American indie acts not in Azerrad’s book, The B-52’s, Pixies, Bad Brains, and X are also skunked. You might as well add Devo, another 2022 nominee that was passed over, to this pile as well. Expanding beyond America, the list grows even more shameful: The Smiths, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Joy Division/New Order, My Bloody Valentine, Echo And The Bunnymen, the Pet Shop Boys, and the Jesus And Mary Chain all have to wait their turn before Eurythmics.

Again, reasonable people can argue over whether some or even most of these acts are worthy of induction. But the collective neglect of this era is appalling to the point of being inexcusable, especially given how Rock Hall voters seem intent at the point on delving deep into the second and third tiers of ’70s and ’80s corporate rock and pop, while throwing an occasional bone to a multi-platinum rapper. What compounds the shoddy treatment of ’80s and ’90s alt and indie acts is that it will make it even harder for future alt and indie acts to be considered. Following the logic of that anonymous voter from the Vulture article, how can a future voter induct The National or Vampire Weekend if a band as foundational to the genre as Sonic Youth isn’t even in the Rock Hall?

To be clear, the Rock Hall is the one most hurt by this. Many of the acts I’ve listed have been the subjects of well-regarded books and documentaries. Thankfully, musical historians have given them the proper appreciation. They will all be fine without the Rock Hall. It’s the Rock Hall that is severely diminished without them.

As Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gets ready to shatter the very fabric of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reality even further, the film’s writer Michael Waldron is now regretting setting up so many multiverse rules in last year’s Loki series for Disney+. Obviously, Waldron had a blast making the show, which was the MCU’s first foray into the multiverse, but he quickly realized maybe he didn’t have to be so precise in setting up how the cinematic multiverse works.

“We worked pretty hard on Loki to make it as airtight as possible,” Waldron told Digital Spy. “But there were times when I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t, I wish I hadn’t have defined that so clearly. I don’t know why I had to be so specific in my time-travel television show about the rules of the multiverse.’”

Despite writing himself into a couple of tight spots, the rules ultimately helped Waldron and the Doctor Strange creative theme stay on same page. “You have to all have a shared language of all this stuff, otherwise it can get pretty confusing,” Waldron said before teasing a connection between the sorcerer film and Loki Season 2:

“Well, I mean, look, everything leads into everything, right?” he said. “We’ve hired a couple of great directors. [Justin] Benson and [Aaron] Moorhead [Loki season two directors] are brilliant. And Eric Martin has taken over as head writer for season 2.

“So the creative team is fantastic. As Tom [Hiddleston, who plays Loki] once said, there’s plenty more mischief to come.”

In the meantime, Marvel has dropped another jam-packed preview for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which is already making its way into theaters on Thursday night. You can watch it below:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness goes wide on May 6.

(Via Digital Spy)

It was announced yesterday that Dolly Parton will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame after she initially rejected the nomination before later changing her mind. After the news broke, Parton offered a statement in which she noted she was “honored and humbled” by being voted into the Hall Of Fame.

Now, she has spoken more about it in a new Billboard interview and during the conversation, she revealed she’s not sure if she’s going to attend the induction ceremony.

When asked if she would, she responded, “I don’t know. If I do, I’m going to sing the hardest style rock ‘n’ roll song I could ever muster up just to show that I can do it.” She added, “I don’t know what I’ll do. […] But I’ll do something to make it fun and to be forgiven for my mistake. To earn my title.”

She also declared that some day, she will make a rock album, saying, “I had actually thought about that before I even got nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve always wanted to do a great rock album, and I’m going to do that. I don’t know when, but I will do one.”

Check out the interview here.

Just when it seems like Anderson .Paak can’t get any better, he adds a new gift to his repertoire. The eight-time Grammy Award winner will make his feature directorial debut with dramatic comedy K-POPS!, which he will also star in, Deadline reports. It will be a special treat for the multi-hyphenate as his son, Soul Rasheed, will join him on the big screen.

The film follows a washed-up musician taking his talents to Korea to write for K-pop stars, learning along the way that his estranged son is the leader of one of the most popular groups within the genre. The father sees the opportunity as a way to push himself forward, but realizes connecting with his son is much more gratifying.

The film’s premise uniquely parallels the 36-year-old’s life in certain ways, though calling him washed may be a stretch. Alongside Silk Sonic member Bruno Mars, .Paak brought home four awards at the most recent Grammys as they now prepare for their Vegas residency in May.

The Ventura artist stated, “My mom is from Korea but she was adopted so I never knew anything about my heritage until I met my wife. This movie is a reflection on learning about this part of myself alongside my wife and son — and spending even more time with them!”

The film, released under Stampede Ventures, includes contributions from rapper Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park and writing from Khaila Amazan, responsible for A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea And Tomorrow.

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

Much to the delight of the Thuggee, Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly drink each other’s blood. “And just as in every lifetime before this one, and as in every lifetime that will follow it, I said yes… and then we drank each other’s blood,” the Jennifer’s Body actress wrote on Instagram after she and Mr. I Am Weed got engaged.

Fox confirmed that she wasn’t joking in an interview with Glamour UK, telling the magazine, “So, I guess to drink each other’s blood might mislead people or people are imagining us with goblets and we’re like Game of Thrones… It’s just a few drops, but yes, we do consume each other’s blood on occasion for ritual purposes only.”

The vampire community issued a stern warning about amateur blood drinking, but no one else should be concerned what two consenting adults do behind closed doors. So, naturally, the far right is outraged by Fox’s comments. Rolling Stone reports that conservatives have been “posting on Telegram, outraged by what they referred to as the couple’s ‘Satanic blood rituals’ and channels like OAN devoting airtime to the two.”

“Out in the open, they tell you what they do, that they practice their rituals, and they literally have the ability to manipulate the minds of an entire generation,” said one outraged pundit accusing the couple of practicing Satanism.

The same pundit added that this is what happens when you have a generation “that removes God from absolutely everything. You cause a vacuum in society and Satan fills that vacuum conveniently and now, here we have Hollywood elites literally practice drinking each other’s blood.” I’m not sure he’s making the point he thinks he’s making, because the Satan Generation sounds much cooler than the Fundamentalist Christian Generation. Also, congrats to Bird Box star MGK for being part of the “Hollywood elite.”

You can watch the OAN clip below.

(Via Rolling Stone)

As expected, Top Gun: Maverick contains a wealth of dazzling aerial sequences. Tom Cruise is also known to dangle from helicopters for random movie stunts here and there, so it would make sense that he’d get a little stunt-happy while arriving to the premiere in San Diego, California. Page Six is reporting that Tom touched down on the USS Midway aircraft carrier in a chopper before opening the door and casually strolling out like a sharp dressed man. As one does.

From the looks of the above photo and this video caption from The Hollywood Reporter, he did the honors himself. Take a look and see what you believe.

There’s some debate in the Twitter comments about whether there were other pilots in the aircraft with Tom (who is, in fact, licensed), so take it all as you will. And yep, it sure looks like he had help, but does that really matter too much?

Enjoy the movie magic, people. And one thing is very certain: Tom, long after he fancied the idea of a Top Gun sequel to be irresponsible, is feeling the need for speed once more. And after years of pandemic delays, he’s finally back in action for a red carpet affair. He must be so chuffed to see this happen.

We’re only a few weeks away from the movie landing in theaters, so we can see Maverick and Val Kilmer’s Iceman in action again, although there’s no telling how much we will actually see if Kilmer in this movie. Yet Admiral “Iceman” Tom Kazanzky is the guy who summoned Pete “Maverick” Mitchell back to the Top Gun program. And before too long, we’ll also see Tom land in Cannes for the first time in 30 years.

Top Gun: Maverick (which also stars Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, and Miles Teller) arrives in U.S. theaters on May 27.

(Via Page Six & The Hollywood Reporter)