Category: News

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide have experienced overwhelming success in the world of college football, winning myriad championships and generally dominating the sport. Saban is regarded as perhaps the best to ever do it as a head coach in the sport and, when prompted with the opportunity to speak to Alabama’s team, TNT’s Ernie Johnson expressed that the only question is “What time?” rather than a yes or no proposition. Johnson recently delivered an uplifting message to the Crimson Tide that was captured and shared on social media, and it was as poignant as you may expect.

Johnson shared about knowing one’s role, pointing to his own work at Inside The NBA and playfully acknowledging that observers aren’t exactly tuned into that broadcast for his basketball knowledge. Instead, Johnson indicated that he knows his role is to make others shine, and that feeds into the bigger message to attempt to improve the lives of those around you.

“When you step away from your agenda and notice that there are moments that can make somebody’s life better, that’s all that I try to teach my kids,” Johnson said. “When you wake up in the morning, how am I going to make somebody else’s life better today? There’s a team much bigger than this, there’s a team that is trying to make somebody’s day better, that’s all of us.”

From there, Johnson revealed a t-shirt that read “Be A Better Human” and delivered a challenge to the team to follow that ethos. Following the visit, Johnson also re-shared Alabama’s video and poked fun at a graduate of the University of Georgia being able to share a moment with Alabama in this setting.

Johnson is widely seen as a tremendous human being and he has a powerful personal story. It certainly isn’t a surprise that he would be called upon to speak to a team like this, but the messaging holds up and everyone could use a reminder to heed this advice.

Musicians collaborating without meeting in person is pretty business as usual these days, what with the magic of the Internet and last year’s pandemic quarantine. So when Lorde announced that her forthcoming third studio album, Solar Power, would include backing vocals from both Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo (“Solar Power” and “Stoned At The Nail Salon”), it seemed completely possible and unsurprising that each vocal powerhouse could co-exist on one project without ever having to meet. As such, Bridgers recently offered her take on working remotely with Lorde in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, calling the experience “so fun,” adding, “I think that was one of my favorite parts of it… we were so unconnected to each other that borders and being in the same town as someone just stopped mattering completely.”

“I had the same line of communication with Ella [Lorde] as I have with someone who lives right down the street from me,” she added. “So that was kind of magical to exist in a weird, ethereal multi-verse for a while. I had such a good time. Also, even just being inside that session and being able to look into somebody’s brain like that was so fun.”

Check out the full interview here and find Bridgers’ just-released cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” here.

Solar Power is out 8/20 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

Mike Lindell just can’t catch a break. Following reptilian raconteur Steve Bannon turning on him, the Daily Beast is reporting that the MyPillow CEO’s own “lead cyber expert” is admitting that the piles of evidence Lindell has spent months boasting about having that prove that the 2020 presidential election was hacked is all bullsh*t.

While Lindell made a big show out of offering a whopping $5 million to anyone who could show up to his “cyber symposium” and debunk his claims that China hacked our voting machines and swung the election Joe Biden’s way, that offer is apparently no longer valid. In an interview with the Washington Times, Josh Merritt—part of the team of cyber experts Lindell hired to legitimize his election-jacking theory—admitted that those pieces of “irrefutable” evidence the crucifix enthusiast has been throwing around, which look like screenshots from a bootlegged copy of The Matrix, are proof of absolutely nothing. As the Washington Times wrote:

Mr. Lindell said he had 37 terabytes of “irrefutable” evidence that hackers, who he said were backed by China, broke into election systems and switched votes in favor of President Biden. The proof, he said, is visible in intercepted network data or “packet captures” that were collected by hackers and could be unencrypted to reveal that a cyberattack occurred and that votes were switched.

But cyber expert Josh Merritt, who is on the team hired by Mr. Lindell to interrogate the data for the symposium, told The Washington Times that packet captures are unrecoverable in the data and that the data, as provided, cannot prove a cyber incursion by China.

While Lindell has spent weeks talking up his cyber symposium, and teasing his plan to unveil the mountains of data he—a former crack addict who hawks pillows in cheesy commercials that look like they were shot on an iPhone—had collected, it all turned out to be a bunch of hooey. Which any rational person already knew, but the idea of seeing Lindell unveil his trove of shite data would have at least been a conversation-starter.

On Wednesday, the same day Lindell was set to share his findings, Merritt said that he and his team were “not going to say that this [data] is legitimate if we don’t have confidence in the information.” The Daily Beast reports that several security experts who had traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota specifically to see Lindell’s “proof” were pissed off when Lindell offered them a boatload of nothing.

Rob Graham, a cybersecurity pro who is on the ground is Sioux Falls and live-tweeting his symposium exploits, offered a pointed take on what Lindell’s got: “random garbage.”

Funnily enough, that’s the same phrase many have used to describe Trump’s most devoted sidekicks.

(Via Daily Beast)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

The angel number “333” is a reassuring sign that confirms the path one currently charters is the correct one. All fears, worries, anxieties, or anything else that undercuts confidence at the knees, are acknowledged, but the beam of light that this triple-digit figure shines towards is optimism rather than pessimism. In short, “333” not only begs for faith but also induces it. After all the chaos that the world endured in 2020, it’s no surprise that Tinashe’s fifth album carries the title of 333, but a pandemic year barely scratches the surface of inspiration for the singer, that is, if it’s even for the table she sits at.

To understand why Tinashe might need faith instilled in her future, you have to understand her past. After gaining popularity for a trio for 2010s mixtapes, In Case We Die (2012), Reverie (2012), and Black Water (2013), and breaking through mainstream walls with her debut album Aquarius and top-30 Billboard single “2 On,” things would veer off-road for Tinashe. Struggles with her former label would result in an unpromoted sophomore album Nightride and a well-overdue third album in Joyride. Tinashe would reclaim control of her career as an independent act for her fourth and fifth albums, Songs For You and 333, but for many of her fans, and quite possibly the singer herself, questions of what-ifs and maybes swarmed the mind.

333 encapsulates Tinashe’s eye-popping versatility like no other album in her discography has done. Through 16 songs and collaborations with Jeremih, Kaytranada, Kaash Paige, Buddy, and more, the singer dives headfirst into the idea that trusting what’s in front of you will lead to what’s also destined for you. It’s the hidden message that lays underneath the drawn-out and steady snaps on the album’s opening track, “Let Go.” “It’ll be alright,” she sings softly. “When I let go.” The gadgets and gizmos that we believe we can control to steer our lives in the desired direction are mere placebos that appear as such we end up at a different destination than expected — whether it be an enchanting heaven or a bottomless ditch.

So with that, Tinashe keeps faith in what she can do well, and in all honesty, it’s a lot. Between R&B that arrives as gritty on “I Can See The Future” or bouncy and sensual on “X” as well as pop-leaning records that come alive through “Undo (Back To My Heart)” and “The Chase,” Tinashe’s palette bears many different colors for brushes of all sizes. For some, this never-ending availability of options may be too much to handle, but for Tinashe? She’s cut front the cloth that doesn’t simply beg for freedom — she requires and demands it. A lack of boundaries for some leads to aimless roaming and wasted times, while for others, it provides the perfect space for discovery and inspiration. Tinashe is the latter.

Roaming free helped the singer produce several examples of attention-seizing records on 333. “Unconditional” begins with uptempo dance-ready production before dialing the tempo back in its second half into a relaxed state that sees Tinashe expanding on her request for love without restriction as she plans on giving the same. “Last Call” arrives as a somber goodbye to a relationship that once was and the hope that a friendship can be salvaged. The song’s climatic production from verse-to-chorus accentuates Tinashe’s true pain towards a departed love while a similar structure on “The Chase” presents a woman who’s moved on and won’t beg for a former lover’s presence.

For the career Tinashe has endured, two quotes from her come to mind. “I realized that it was my turn to get back into the driver’s seat as far as curating every move I made from there on out,” which she said following the underwhelming success of “Flame,” a lead single turned promo release for Joyride. The second comes from a 2017 interview with Lena Dunham. “I learned that if I couldn’t trust in myself, and my own opinions, I lost all of my value as an artist,” she said. Both statements from Tinashe are worth keeping in mind while traversing through her latest body of work.

Tinashe deserves the spot she stands in right now. She was due for this position years ago, but maybe the bumpy road she walked on was intentionally laid for her. The trials and tribulations the singer went through are certainly examples of the faults within an often unsupportive music industry, this and the accompanying high moments she experienced all contributed to the success she has now. Control what you can and let go of what you cannot as hindsight is 20/20 and foresight is as blind as a bat, but faith in continuing forward should bring Tinashe all she wants and more. The angels have spoken, now it’s time to listen, trust, and believe.

333 is out now via Tinashe Music Inc. Get it here.

Tyler The Creator’s third album, Cherry Bomb, was released in 2015. Since then, Tyler has released three albums, with his latest, Call Me If You Get Lost, coming out this year. Between Cherry Bomb and now, Tyler has done some growth as an artist. That, paired with some things he has said, has led to theories that Tyler isn’t too keen on Cherry Bomb anymore. Now, Tyler has gone ahead and debunked that rumor.

Today, a fan on Twitter asked Tyler if he doesn’t like the album. They cited a couple facts that prompted them to ask the question: Tyler tweeted recently that 2015 was his “ugly phase,” and he raps on the Call Me If You Get Lost track “Massa,” “That caterpillar went to cocoon, do you get me? / See, I was shiftin’, that’s really why Cherry Bomb sounded so shifty.”

Tyler replied that insisting his “ugly phase” comment was about his physical appearance and nothing more: “n**** i said my ugly phase, my face, what that gotta do with my music lmfao yall be reaching.”

Speaking of Call Me If You Get Lost lyrics, Tyler wants to make sure that they’re shown correctly online, as he called on Genius and Apple Music to update their listings of his lyrics after he posted the correct ones himself.

Being a parent requires a constant baseline of fear that something terrible is going to happen to your child, one that keeps you on your toes at any given moment to spring into action should that happen.

That is especially the case for any parent with a pool and a small child who is not yet a strong swimmer. Andre Drummond learned all about that this week as his son hung out with his feet dangling into the pool with family before falling in, causing the now-Sixers center to spring into action, leaping into the pool to quickly scoop up his son in what was a scary scene at the Drummond household that got caught on a security camera and Drummond posted to his Twitter.

Happily, his son was fine (and smiling immediately after) and Drummond was able to laugh a little bit at how his son just sort of leaned into the pool to the dismay and terror of everyone else.

Drummond’s reaction time here is impressive, as he had his son out of the pool within two seconds of him going face first into it. Hopefully the youngest Drummond will learn from this and be a tad more careful around the edge of the pool, but if not it’s good to know dad is ready and able to jump in and lift him out.

Would-be concertgoers had better get their shots, as Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the second-largest concert promotion company in the US behind Live Nation, will be requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination at all of its US venues beginning in October. AEG notably operates some of the biggest venues in the States, including Staples Center, Brooklyn Steel, and Webster Hall, and subsidiaries like GoldenVoice operate festivals including Coachella, Stagecoach, and upcoming fests like Lovers & Friends and Day N Vegas.

Up until now, and until the policy goes into effect, AEG has been allowing entry with either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the event date. However, with new infections rising and the emergence of new variants of the novel coronavirus, including the Delta variant, AEG’s leadership wants to protect attendees — and the company’s bottom line — to ensure future events don’t get canceled or postponed as in 2020 when the initial COVID outbreak essentially shuttered the entertainment industry for months.

As AEG COO Jay Marciano explained in a statement:

“We have come to the conclusion that, as a market leader, it was up to us to take a real stand on vaccination status. Just a few weeks ago, we were optimistic about where our business, and country, were heading. The Delta variant, combined with vaccine hesitancy, is pushing us in the wrong direction again. We realize that some people might look at this as a dramatic step, but it’s the right one. We also are aware that there might be some initial pushback, but I’m confident and hopeful that, at the end of the day, we will be on the right side of history and doing what’s best for artists, fans, and live event workers. Our hope is that our pro-active stance encourages people to do the right thing and get vaccinated. We’ve already had to deliver bad news about JazzFest this week; I think everyone can agree that we don’t want concerts to go away again, and this is the best way to keep that from happening.”

In contrast, Live Nation has let artists set the tone, determining vaccination requirements for their own shows. With this move, it’s possible AEG will put pressure on its industry peers to take further steps to protect the public and prevent another potentially disastrous industry-wide shutdown.

With his single “Montero” inspired by the film Call Me By Your Name, it’s no secret that Lil Nas X is a movie buff. After a successful rise to stardom, the rapper hopes to one day pivot to acting — but just not quite yet. The rapper revealed he was actually asked to join the cast of HBO’s Euphoria, but ended up turning down the role to focus on his music.

Lil Nas X recent sat down with Variety for a cover interview to speak about his rise to fame. Along with discussing his upcoming album, which he says will arrive before the end of summer, Lil Nas X spoke about his acting dreams. The rapper said he eventually wants to make it to the big screen, but he’s just waiting for the right role. That’s why he turned down the chance to appear in Euphoria. “I was actually going to do ‘Euphoria,’ but I didn’t want to take time away from finishing my album,” he said. “I definitely want to get into acting, but I feel I have to give it my all, and I want to focus on music for right now. I want my first movie to be amazing.”

Following up on the statement on Twitter, Lil Nas X made it clear that his decision to decline the opportunity had nothing to do with the show itself. “btw this was not me saying im too good for euphoria, that’s literally one of my favorite shows right now,” he said.

While Lil Nas X may have turned down the Euphoria role, the hit TV show tapped a different musician to join their cast. Dominic Fike recently revealed that he has joined the series, and he said he plays a character that’s “exactly like me.”

Read Lil Nas X’s full interview with Variety here.

Despite signing onto a lawsuit that attempted to invalidate votes in swing states to tip the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX_ has been one of the few Republicans who want to “move on” from Trump’s Big Lie. However, the problem with Crenshaw’s approach is he wants to pretend the whole thing never happened without confronting why the Republican Party was so easily “weaponized” by Trump, and he found out the hard way that the GOP isn’t ready to hear the truth.

During a recent fundraising event, Crenshaw was captured on video getting heckled (via The Recount) by Republican Senate candidate Bobby Piton after Crenshaw refused to say the 2020 election was stolen. The two men started arguing back and forth as Crenshaw refused to back down and roasted Piton’s attempt to bring up the Arizona audit. “How’d that turn out?” Crenshaw fired back before attempting to shut the conversation down because he didn’t want to “argue” with Piton, who kept yelling, “You’re wrong!”

“Five different states? Hundreds of thousands of votes? You’re kidding yourself,” Crenshaw said before Piton seemingly stopped the recording.

While it’s good that Crenshaw is pushing back against Trump’s Big Lie, the former president is a monster of the Republican Party’s own creation, so people on Twitter weren’t exactly sympathetic when it came to watching Crenshaw get turned on by the MAGA crowd. Because as much as Crenshaw might want to “move on” from the 2020 election, the GOP sure doesn’t and his hands aren’t clean either when it comes to hitching the party to Trump.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has done extensive work with hip-hop artists over the years, including the late MF DOOM, whose 2009 Born Like This single “Gazzillion Ear” Yorke remixed for its original release. However, it turns out Yorke actually made two remixes at the time: The one that made its way onto the original single release was his “Monkey Hustle” version, and his “Man On Fire” version was shelved for the next 11 years. Today, though, as British independent label Lex Records celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, the label has been putting out remixes from its catalog — which includes the “Man On Fire” version of “Gazzillion Ear.”

The remix is a spacey, glitchy, eerie-sounding affair, stripping away most of the percussion and letting DOOM’s intricate lyrics take center stage (the two remixes actually take their titles from a pair of linked bars in the second verse in which DOOM uses both phrases).

DOOM has received a slew of tributes from both fans and his musical peers over the last eight months after his family announced his October death on New Year’s Eve, 2020. A street in his New York hometown was renamed in his honor, while the verses he’d recorded for artists like IDK, Your Old Droog, and his group Czarface have slowly trickled out. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the remix tip, The Avalanches added a verse from the late masked rapper on a remix of their song “Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life.”