Category: News

30 years ago today, The Roots released their second studio album, Do You Want More?!!!??!, kickstarting their long-lasting ascent and changing the sound of so-called “jazz rap” forever. In honor of the 30th anniversary, the band has announced a six-show residency at the legendary jazz club, Blue Note in New York City. They plan to perform two shows per night from March 13 through March 15, and you can purchase tickets now on Blue Note’s website (good luck, though).

Questlove announced the shows in his usual way — via Instagram — alongside his fellow founder Black Thought, with a nostalgic clip of the video for “Proceed,” one of the group’s first-ever music videos (look at Tariq’s nose stud!). Quest explains how, as their first major label album, Do You Want More?!!!??! was “where it all began” and while he manages expectations, advising, “We’re not doing the whole album,” he promises, “What we will do is have fun with it.”

2025 is shaping up to be another wildly busy year for the two bandmates, as Quest teased their first album in over a decade, along with Quest’s increasing film docket, which as of now includes an SNL 50-year documentary; a documentary about legendary funk band leader Sly Stone; and oh yeah, a remake of Disney’s jazz-centric animated classic The Arisocats, which is still happening, to the best of my knowledge. All that while continuing to show up as the house band for The Tonight Show. Yeesh.

When these guys sleep, I will never know. Get your tickets for their residency now (if you can).

Taylor Sheridan’s devoted audience is currently in a rare lull between shows. Paramount+ recently streamed Landman‘s first season finale, but 1923 is waiting in the wings for a February return. The Madison is currently filming a debut season, and Tulsa King will almost certainly be back for a third round. No word has surfaced on more Lioness, but Landman was so well popular and well-received that it’s hard to imagine Sheridan walking away from more.

Will There Be A Season 2 Of Landman?

Nothing has been made official yet. However, Sheridan appears to have set the stage for future storytelling with Tommy Norton taking over Monty Miller’s place as head honcho of M-Tex Oil.

Billy Bob Thornton also told Entertainment Weekly that, if there’s a renewal, he understands that filming will start soon, meaning, “sometime around February, March, somewhere in there,” but he added, “I mean, we’ll see. It just depends on how the chips may fall, you never know in this business.”

As for the fate of Monty Miller, Jon Hamm recently spoke with Hollywood Reporter after series co-creator Christian Wallace confirmed Monty’s death. Hamm elaborated on Tommy Norton’s difficult new direction, should there be a renewal:

“That’s going to be Billy Bob’s thing [ahead] – heavy is the head that wears the crown, so to speak. That stuff is true and I think his journey through not only the time on the show but the rest of his life is: careful what you wish for. I think he’s definitely found that with his relationship with Angela [his reconciled ex-wife played by Ali Larter], and I think his relationship with his son [Cooper, played by Jacob Lofland] and daughter [Aynsley, played by Michelle Randolph] are really going to be burdens for him to manage as well.”

Additionally, the season finale opened up a greater piece of the acting pie for Monty’s wife, Cami, portrayed by Demi Moore. It was a role that sadly felt ornamental throughout this past season, so fingers crossed for much more Moore and official Landman second season news coming soon.

Timothée Chalamet is one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars thanks to his ability to commit to the bit. Case in point, he’s apparently still really in character after playing a certain singer to whom he shares more than a passing resemblance.

No, not Bob Dylan — although the incident in question occurred at the Paris red carpet premiere of his Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. During the event, a fan approached Chalamet for an autograph, handing him a vinyl copy of pop star Troye Sivan’s 2023 Something To Give Each Other to sign — which he did, scrawling the words “Troye Sivan” across the cover, to the amusement of both the fan and onlookers.

Chalamet, of course, played Sivan in a sketch on Saturday Night Live in November 2023, duplicating the singer’s “Get Me Started” music video look. In the sketch, he described himself/Sivan as “an Australian YouTube twink turned indie pop star and model turned HBO actor… being played by an American actor who can’t do an Australian accent.”

This isn’t the first time Timmy’s been reminded of the sketch in public. At the Wonka premiere the month after the sketch aired, a fan asked him to sign the same album. “That’s basically you,” the fan explained. “In some universe…” the actor replied. Part of his recent success is clearly due to his charm and being a good sport (as well as some sports knowledge that has endeared him to bros as much as ladies). And here’s some good news: he’s returning to SNL next week, which could result in a new bit for him to commit to.

Los Angeles County residents’ efforts are currently focused on the area’s devastating wildfires. Fortunately for Kid Cudi, he was able to safely evacuate. However, his home wasn’t exactly unoccupied.

According to TMZ, the “Rager Boyz” rapper’s home was broken into while he was away.

Supposed footage from Kid Cudi’s Los Angeles-area home alerted him to a break-in. On the alleged video, a man is seen intruding on the property. After trespassing, the individual enjoyed a meal before relaxing for a period of time. The unnamed person also went on to relieve themselves in Kid Cudi’s bathroom. Finally, the person used the shower.

Eventually, authorities were contacted. Once Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, the perpetrator was taken into custody. A source closed to the matter told the outlet that the unnamed man was formally booked and charged with felony burglary and theft of utilities. This person is now being held on $150,000 bail.

Insiders say Cudi was not specifically targeted. In fact, authorities believe the suspect was an unhoused person seeking temporary shelter.

Cudi has not released a statement regarding the matter, but he did confirm to concerned fans that he did seek refugee from the fires under the advice of local officials.

With Lonely Flowers (now streaming on Hulu), Roy Wood Jr.’s 4th hour long special, the former Daily Show correspondent solidifies his status as one of the top 3 or 4 stand-ups working today. That’s how good the special is, with Wood Jr. leveling up in terms of precision and comedic storytelling from the pretty close to perfect Imperfect Messenger, his last special, which dropped in 2022.

I am not new to the praising Roy Wood Jr. beat. Dude absolutely should have been named permanent host of The Daily Show, and his CNN comedy panel show (Have I Got News For You) helps to prove that every week (it got a season 2 pickup but is currently on hiatus) as he chops up the news with the help of Amber Ruffin, Michael Ian Black, and a broad mix of guests. The material in Lonely Flowers also makes that point with blaring clarity. This is not to say that you should go into the special expecting a full meal of political satire, though.

As Wood Jr. explains in this interview, a big focus for him going into the special was to not go political, reasoning that he has other creative avenues to speak on the news and newsmakers and that the world is bigger than (D) vs (R). With Lonely Flowers, his aim was for something grander, specifically keying in on the state of connection in these modern times while also getting even more personal than he did in Imperfect Messenger. It’s an evolution that is not finished, as we also discuss at length, but it is one that builds on his best in the game ability to deliver societal commentary that provides a simple road map for his audience: think/laugh/repeat.

I rewatched your Father Figure (2017) special before this, and you’ve got the bit where you’re talking about cashiers and it’s basically “just shut the fuck up and ring up my groceries!” Now you’ve gone from that to where you’re talking about feeling that lost sense of connection in those exchanges in a retail space dominated by self-checkouts.

Roy Wood Jr.: [Laughs] Yeah. It’s like I spoke too soon three specials ago. That’s a good fucking catch.

What I loved about the special, what I loved about Imperfect Messenger, and what I love about your comedy, in general, is, you make someone think and then before it gets too deep, you catch them with a laugh.

I feel like for me, man, I was trying to figure out a way, number one with this special, to not be political because it just felt like one, politics is going to change so fucking fast that I’m not going to be able to crack a joke at an October taping that would work in January, especially when you don’t know how the election’s going to go. And even after the election, you don’t know how the inauguration’s going to go. I think in that regard, it was an evolution of just figuring out, “Okay, how do I unify us?” I start the special, this one, by talking about we, as a collective, us, society, all of us. And in no way was I trying to make this a critique of… This special wasn’t about you all, it was about us. And so, I think once I say us, then I think it has given me the freedom. It gives me the freedom to not have to worry as much about pissing you off or stepping on a landmine because I’ve established that I’m in this with you too.

There’s a place for political humor, obviously. But also, it’s nice to not have to endure that in every special. It seems like a lot of comics, I think, are veering from that. Again, that’s not to say that it’s not important to talk about, but it’s also important to remember that it’s not everything.

Yes.

There’s other stuff going on in life and this special really touches on that. And the connection aspect of it is, like you were saying, a universal thing.

Yeah. This idea that what is happening in the world is happening to all of us, regardless of how you vote or what you feel politically. So there has to be a legitimate attempt at exploring how we got to this place and then the importance of connection or the lack of connection, and why you should seek connection, how you feel when you see people who are connected when you aren’t connected with anyone. That was all fun. It was very fun to really look and delve into that space. That was kind of the impetus for all of this.

I could be silly in some parts of the special, but I really am serious just about how the shift in retail really did change how we relate to one another. There was that and then there was a part of it that was very much nonsensical. But then you also can go on to me talking about being invited to a sex party. Well, okay, that’s still about connection.

Yeah, for sure.

And so who are we? What the fuck are we doing now with each other, to each other?

How challenging has the pursuit of connection been for you in your life? Especially over these last five years?

I have a handful of friends that I’m cool with. I don’t them see as often as I should. I think my biggest issue is the people I’m closest to, do not live in New York City, most of them. So I’m co-parenting my son. My son and I are close. You have a lot of industry friends. But I think even within that, even if you don’t have a number of friendships that have depth to them, then you still need to have something that makes you feel connected to people or society at large. You can’t just be a full-blown hermit.

I tell a story in the special about this photographer I hired just at random and it turned out he was pretty lonely. And he and I had a bit of a real moment. So even the idea of just taking the chance on people and doing something else with people, it was a good thing. It was a really good thing.

With the last two specials, you’re saying something, especially with the closers. Why is that a priority for you to have that weight with those specific bits?

For me, it’s about having moments of real emotional honesty, and I don’t have all the solutions or all the answers. Imperfect Messenger was a bit of a precursor to this one stylistically and me wanting to look a little bit more inside of myself on why certain things are the way they are and why… And how do I fit into all of this? I’ve talked about people fighting fast food employees and being rude to employees who have to unlock deodorant at Walgreens, but let me tell you a story about me and what I’m dealing with because I think that underneath all of these laughs and everything that we’re trying to escape through entertainment, moments of real emotional connection and humility are still real and just as important and relatable as a punchline. So I enjoy that.

It’s great to see a comic just telling joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, and you’re laughing at that too. But it’s nice to see a speciaI where I can see your soul a little bit. I understand where you’re coming from a little bit more. That is a connection too.

I definitely want to be in a place of trying to connect with people through all of the different tools within the emotional Batman utility belt. We can have laughs, but we can also have some real relatability. I think that matters. I really do think that matters.

When did you reach the point where you started being more personal, more open emotionally on stage? Was it conscious?

There was a little more of, this is what I’m curious about. I knew I wanted to tell that story about the white photographer who was so thankful for me hiring him. And it was hard to tell that story without acknowledging his emotions and despair within the moment. And there’s no way to get a laugh in the middle of that. The other thing I’m very cognizant of with standup comedy audiences now, they are far more inclined to allow emotion to be part of your performance.

I think right now, nobody does it better than Ali Sadiq, if we’re talking about balancing real emotion. And Ali can juggle sorrow, pain, anger, despair, and then yo-yo you right back into a punchline. And Josh Johnson is that way too, because he talks about stuff while our feelings are still raw about it. There’s an immediacy to Josh Johnson that I think taps into emotion.
And so for me, I knew I wanted to tell the story about the veteran, but in that story, sitting in those emotions and feeling the pressure release on the backside of it from the audience laughing, I was like, “Oh, wow. Okay, so we can do that?” I can tell another story about me and something. Okay, well then let me tell you a story about my mom and how she guarantees that she won’t be lonely. Let me tell you a story about the time I felt lost romantically. That’s interesting. Also, that’s unchartered territory for me. I haven’t done any of that. I haven’t gone to any of those places.

I feel like you were on Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast and he was trying to encourage you to do more storytelling comedy. Am I remembering that right?

Yeah, you’re right. Yeah, Birbiglia.

This feels like, especially with the Bubble Man story… because it’s like a 15-minute bit and you hold it so well with jokes dropped in here and there while building to such a beautiful payoff. Is that the future for you: more one-man show and longform storytelling?

I think I’m down a road that will be creatively, definitively different than anything that I’ve done up until this point, career-wise. And I couldn’t be more excited. I’m headed into a book titled “The Man of Many Fathers,” and that’ll be the next big thing that I do. And there’s definitely some storytelling and one man show-esque type stuff that I would like to build around that. The book is essentially a compilation of stories that are basically lessons I’ve learned from men in my life after my father passed. And some are funny, some are poignant, and some are deep and sad.

It’s everything from times that I’ve had guns pulled on me, to times that I’ve learned that it’s okay to cry as a man, to the time that a coworker slapped me as a teenager and I learned to stop snitching. There are a million and one different stories that I could tell from that place. And I think when you look at the Bubble Man story, that pacing is where I want to get to a little more naturally. And it’s my hope that with this special, that this feels like me putting my toe in the water and the audience creatively going with me there, so that when I’m in full Mike Birbiglia, Neal Brennan, one-man show-ish kind of mode, it doesn’t throw people off. I think if I’d have went straight from politics to something completely and wholly self-reflective and introspective, it may have felt like when the rapper does the acoustic unplugged album.

Andre 3000’s flute album?

Yeah. That’s a great example where it’s like Andre 3000 started as one thing, and over the course of his career, we saw him evolve to the point where when he came out and said he is doing a flute album, people were not only not surprised, they were open and receptive to what it could be. But if he’d have dropped a flute album right after “Player’s Ball,” after Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, we’d be like, “What the fuck is that?” But there’s been enough of a gradual evolution, and it’s my hope, from Imperfect Messenger through Lonely Flowers, to whatever I do with Man of Many Fathers, that the audiences see and understand where I’m going. And in the meantime, if you want political jokes, you can go to my YouTube or you can watch me on CNN.

‘Lonely Flowers’ is streaming now on Hulu.

Most NBA teams will reach the midway point of the season this week (if they haven’t already), which means it’s a good time to check in with the state of the league. The trade deadline looms in three weeks, and a number of teams that had lofty aspirations coming into the year find themselves further from contention than they hoped, while others are further along than expected. That can make for an interesting trade season, as there are plenty of teams with incentive to make some moves to try and cement their place as a playoff team this spring.

Here, we are going to break the league down into tiers, as we did before the season and after the first quarter of the year. Record, obviously, plays a big role, but we’re also taking into account recent form and the general vibes when placing teams into tiers — which is why you may see two teams with the same record in different tiers. There’s still plenty of time for teams to move up and down in the back half of the season, but at the midway point, here is how we see the league.

S-Tier: Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder

There’s a clear breakaway at the top of both conferences, as the Cavs and Thunder have established themselves as the class of the NBA this regular season. Over the last week and a half, they’ve split their head-to-head matchups, with the home team winning both times. With a six and seven-game lead, respectively, in their conferences, it’d be shocking if these aren’t the top seeds heading into the playoffs. What is particularly fascinating about these two teams breaking away from the pack is that neither have established postseason success, and will still have plenty to prove in April, May, and June.

A-Tier: Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets

For the first time all year, the Celtics slip out of the S-tier as they find themselves in a bit of a funk. They fought off a championship hangover admirably to start the season, but seem to be finding the midseason slog a bit tougher to get themselves up for every night. They’ll still be the favorites in the East come playoff time and know the formula for postseason success. The only other East team in this tier right now is New York, but they too are just treading water right now. Still, this team is capable of an offensive explosion on any given night and can beat any team, it’s just a matter of finding a bit more consistency.

In the West, despite the questions about depth, Denver continues to plot their course, led by Nikola Jokic making a push for a fourth MVP. However, they are the only team with a real playoff pedigree in the top half of the West standings, as everyone else (led by OKC) is an upstart group. Memphis has picked up where they left off two years ago, proving last year was a mirage, with Jaren Jackson Jr. buoying the Grizzlies on both ends of the floor no matter who is in the lineup around him and giving Ja Morant some additional time to try and get back into his old rhythm.

The most surprising team in this tier is Houston, as the Rockets have not slipped one bit after their strong start and only seem to be getting better. Alperen Sengun is having another good year and Jalen Green appears to be making a leap in real time, but it’s really their depth and defense that have them in second in the West. Amen Thompson has quickly become a favorite of everyone that tunes into the Rockets, and Ime Udoka has this defense humming, leaning on their length and athleticism to give opponents nightmares.

B-Tier: Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings

The Bucks have a case for the A-tier and could very well get there by our next check-in, but right now it feels like there’s some separation between them and that next group at the top of the East. They’ve beaten up on lesser competition, as they should, but they’ve yet to really make their mark against the top of the league, which drops them to here — to be clear, they are the team I believe in the most in this tier. The rest of this group represents a case study in expectations and, admittedly, a bit of recency bias. As noted above, vibes play a role in my tiering and all of these teams look to be trending up, while the teams in the tier below have similar records but are just treading water or on the decline right now.

The Pacers recent hot streak has them suddenly looking like last year’s squad that could be a nuisance for the top teams in the East. The Kings, similarly, are red-hot after it looked like they might be on their way to blowing it all up when they fired Mike Brown, but they just keep winning under Doug Christie and look like they might be figuring it out. The Clippers continue exceeding expectations in the West and are absolutely bludgeoning teams at the bottom of the league, and with Kawhi Leonard back in the fold, look like a team that can stay in the mix for a guaranteed playoff spot. Then there are the Pistons, who have been the most pleasant surprise in the league outside of Houston, as Cade Cunningham has solidified himself as an All-Star, while the team around him is starting to put it together and are competitive every night.

C-Tier: LA Lakers, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs

Almost everyone in this tier feels like they should be doing better than they are. The Lakers have the best record of this group, but are just treading water over the last few weeks and still don’t feel like a legitimate threat in the West. The Magic fought through injuries valiantly to start the year, but they are really dragging their feet right now and the offense just looks like a chore, even with Paolo Banchero back, although hehasn’t yet looked like his old self. The Mavs are, unsurprisingly, not doing well without Luka Doncic and might have a couple more weeks without their star, while the Timberwolves have steadied the ship some but just cannot string together a real run of wins to make a real climb in the standings.

The Spurs and Hawks are the teams probably happiest in their positions. Atlanta’s just hanging around, hoping to get healthy soon to see if they can make a real push in the back half of the schedule. The Spurs have had their struggles with consistency, as happens with young teams, but Victor Wembanyama is everything they could’ve dreamed he would be and has them ahead of schedule.

Lost In The Jimmy Butler Zone: Miami Heat

The Heat occupy their own space as they fight a two-front battle right now. One is with the rest of the league, trying to hang around in the East Play-In and Playoff race. The other is with their star, who they suspended for requesting a trade and seem determined to make as uncomfortable as possible, while he looks to do the same to them. Perhaps there’s a resolution on the horizon after Butler met with owner Micky Arison, but things are just weird in Miami right now. The good news is Tyler Herro has finally made the leap the Heat hoped he could, it just happened to come in the strangest year possible.

D-Tier: Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls

Welcome to the wretched vibes tier. First we have a pair of West teams that are .500, which isn’t that bad, but they do not feel like they are .500 teams. The Warriors fan base is having a crisis of faith, not believing the team is earnestly trying to maximize the end of the Stephen Curry era. Curry himself recently asked them to chill out on the fake trades and let them figure things out, but that message will only be received if a big winning streak follows. The Suns are also a .500 team, but they just demoted their fourth-highest paid player to fourth-string center and are in a staring contest with Bradley Beal over his no-trade clause in their quest to acquire Jimmy Butler (which as of now seems like it will not happen).

The East teams in this tier are objectively worse on the floor but feel spiritually correct alongside these other squads. The Sixers are the NBA’s most disappointing team this year, and Joel Embiid has once again been out for more than a week with a somewhat mysterious injury that’s been billed as day-to-day. Paul George has been woefully inconsistent in his impact in the first year of his gigantic deal, and Tyrese Maxey has, understandably, struggled to maintain his previous scoring efficiency with a massive burden placed on his shoulders. The Bulls, meanwhile, are pretty much what we expected them to be, which is a mediocre to bad basketball team despite everyone thinking they should be embracing the tank. The best thing going for Chicago right now is that Zach LaVine is having a legitimately fantastic year and if he stays healthy all season producing like he is, they might be able to trade him for more than just a salary dump.

F-Tier: Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers

Four of these teams were planning on being here, so, mission accomplished for the Hornets, Nets, Jazz, and Blazers. You did it, you’re in the hunt for the most ping pong balls possible. The Raptors were, I think, hoping to be a bit more competitive than they’ve been but also probably aren’t too bummed to be in the mix for Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper, even if they’ve been worse than intended. And then there’s the Pelicans, who have taken the Grizzlies spot from last year as the most cursed franchise in the league when it comes to injuries. They thought they’d be in the hunt for a playoff spot but are now just trying to field a functional team each night and have, once again, had to ask their presumptive star, Zion Williamson, to please show up to work on time and act like a professional.

Yikes Tier: Washington Wizards

The Wizards have won a few games since we last did this exercise, but those wins were over the Hornets (twice) and the Bulls, so Washington isn’t exactly a threat to anyone with a pulse. It’s really startling how bad they are, because they aren’t just losing every night but they do so by double digits most every game. If they don’t end up with one of the top-two picks in June, it’s certainly not going to be due to a lack of effort.

After the release of Lil Baby‘s 2022 album, It’s Only Me, fans wondered if he’d lost his mojo. Despite the album’s commercial success — it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — the prevailing sentiment on social media was that Baby’s heart just didn’t seem to be in it anymore. After electrifying performances on projects like Harder Than Ever and Drip Harder with Gunna, on It’s Only Me Baby seemed to just be going through the motions.

In a new interview with Complex, the Atlanta rapper confirms that was the case. As he says, “I didn’t even want to put It’s Only Me out at the time, because I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t in [the right] headspace. Those were songs I was just making, but it was nothing that I really loved, and nothing I even really liked… if it was up to me, I would’ve never dropped.” As it turns out, the only reason he released was “I had a back and forth with my label and shit, and they really needed me to drop or wanted me to drop.”

Despite the fact that he “hated those songs” and that he doesn’t even listen to them anymore, Baby’s label reps might feel justified after the album’s sales figures — and those for Baby’s just released follow-up, WHAM. The new album also debuted at no. 1, proving that fans at least still have an appetite for new Lil Baby music — especially since it seems he recovered his love for the process in the meantime. Now, he intends to follow-up again in February with the second half of the diptych, Dominique.

Drake is moving full steam ahead with his legal war against UMG. However, the “No Face” rapper’s defamation case against his label (which is tied to Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us“) has looped in quite a few bystanders.

In the 81-page filing, Drake names several prominent content creators and streamers including Kai Cenat, who like most hip-hop heads, weighed in on the song. Yesterday (January 16), Cenat shared his response after being named by Drake in his defamation lawsuit.

“Wait, why am I in this sh*t,” he asked. “Wait hold on, what the f*ck, I’m being sued?”

After processing that he was merely being used as an example and was not in fact being sued, Cenat breathed a sigh of relief. However, just as his supporters pointed out in the comment section, amid the rap beef Cenat was allegedly contacted by Drake to share his reaction to his follow-up record.

“I was told to stay on stream,” he replied.

As for Drake’s claim that streamers were paid by UMG to promote “Not Like Us,” Cenat shut that down saying: “That sh*t is cap, bruh.”

Users online have begun to call Drake out for seemingly only referencing Black content creators’ reactions (Zias, RDC Gaming, No Life Shaq, and Cartier Family). Even, Drake longtime rival Anthony Fantano (of The Needle Drop), who has been extremely vocal during and after Drake and Kendrick’s beef.

This case is expected to only get messier as time goes on.

Busta Rhymes was recently involved in a physical altercation that has landed him in some legal trouble.

A statement from the New York Police Department shared with XXL reads:

“On Friday, January 10, 2025, at approximately 1016 hours, police responded to a 911 call of a past harassment in the vicinity of Jay Street and Front Street, within the confines of the 84 precinct.

Upon arrival, officers were informed by a 50-year old male victim that he engaged in a verbal dispute with an unidentified individual, which resulted in the unidentified individual punching the victim in the face numerous times.

The victim sustained swelling to the left side of the face. EMS transported the victim to NYC Health and Hospitals/Woodhull in stable condition. There are no arrests have been made at this time and the investigation remains ongoing.”

USA Today also reports Busta turned himself in on January 14, and that he was charged with third-degree assault and given a desk appearance ticket, “which requires him to make an appearance in criminal court for an arraignment.”

TMZ claims the victim was Busta’s assistant Dashiel Gables, and that the dispute was over Gables being on his phone during work hours. Busta reportedly left the scene before turning himself in.

Previously, SZA promised that updates to her album SOS Deluxe: Lana (known informally as just Lana) would arrive on January 6. Well, that didn’t come to pass, and now SZA is dealing with some fan backlash.

Today (January 17), she tweeted, “Punch was right .” Punch responded with the eyes emoji and SZA added, “U been told me stop sharing snippets and tea .. thought I was on to something . I’m clear now .”

Then, a fan called SZA “unprofessional” and wrote, “Wow it’s almost like you announced something and ignored it for 11 days.” SZA responded, “Cause sample clearances always happen within the preferred time frame lmao? I shoulda NEVER tried to give yall what u asked for . It wasn’t professional . It was KINDNESS AND A WILLINGNESS TO APPEASE u lunatics . .”

The same person replied, “You announced a date pls be serious for a second,” and SZA said, “Yea atp you gotta just go to hell . I don’t work for you baby . All I can do is my best . Take care .”

Somebody else worried, “Yall finna have SZA delete her twitter acc,” but SZA replied, “NEVER THAT . N****s not bullying me . I don’t work for anyone but myself and God . I give so much to my fans energetically in person and online . If n****s wanna act DISGUSTING that’s on them .”

Another fan said, “u should’ve never teased or said anything knowing nothing got cleared or is ready to be dropped ma u can’t blame them,” and SZA wrapped up by responding, “Apologies I’ve reached my maximum entertainment of complaints for the day . Pls try again during business hours tomorrow .”