Category: News

Getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus certainly has its perks, starting with an almost certain escape from hospitalization and death if exposed to COVID-19. But there are other benefits to getting the jab, and for race fans in Alabama on Saturday, one of those perks was pretty spectacular.

Talladega Superspeedway, the legendary NASCAR track where restrictor plates do very little to prevent people flying three wide at more than 200 miles per hour, let vaccinated race fans take their own cars out onto the track to get in some laps after taking a COVID test. Or, better yet, you could get the jab and then celebrate with a few spins around the 2.5-mile behemoth.

There’s getting a free beer in Buffalo for getting a jab, and then there’s experiencing a 33-degree bank in the corners of a superspeedway with your street-ready Subaru.

As several people experienced for themselves and then tweeted about, the experience looks cool as hell.

Even pro drivers understood the experience would be one-in-a-lifetime for many fans, which is why guys like Jeff Gordon seemed just as excited about the offer as anyone.

Hopefully everyone was as safe on the track as they were in getting vaccinated and helping us get closer to ending the pandemic once and for all. And at the very least, they got a very cool experience at one of the fastest tracks in America.

Lil Reese was reportedly caught again in the midst of gunfire in his hometown of Chicago. The city’s local news station, CWB Chicago revealed the rapper was among three men who were shot in Chicago’s River North neighborhood on Saturday morning. The outlet reports that two of the men are listed in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital while the remaining individual was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition. It’s unknown to which of these two hospitals Reese was admitted.

CTWB says police officers were called to 6 West Grand Avenue around 9:53 a.m. on Saturday after calls about a shooting were made. When they arrived at the scene they discovered Reese and the two other victims, one who is 20 years of age while the other was 27 years old. Officers also found a stolen Dodge Durango riddled with bullet holes that crashed near the scene. A video of the aftermath shows cops investigating the scene and detaining a man.

The incident comes 18 months after Lil Reese was left in critical condition following a previous shooting that also occurred in Chicago. Here, according to WGN, the rapper was shot in the neck by a man with an AK-47 assault rifle in the Country Club Hills suburb of the city. Witnesses at the scene claimed to have heard as many as 12 gunshots. Fortunately, the rapper was able to make a full recovery following the shooting.

Bridgerton is getting a spinoff, one that will continue to diverge from the series of novels the steamy Netflix show was based on. Shonda Rhimes is reportedly expanding the show’s imprint on Shondaland, penning a spinoff show that will build on the one she helped usher to the streaming service in late 2020.

According to Deadline, Rhimes will hand off showrunning duties to Jess Brownell after Season 2, taking over for Chris Van Dusen who has manned the first two seasons. That news is in addition to word that Rhimes herself is working on a Bridgerton spinoff, this one going even further back in time to dig into the backstory of a young Queen Charlotte.

The Queen Charlotte limited series will center on the rise and love life of a young Queen Charlotte, the reimagined character added to the Bridgerton series that was not in Julia Quinn’s novels on which the show is based. Played by Golda Rosheuvel, Queen Charlotte quickly became a fan favorite and one of Bridgerton‘s breakout characters. The spinoff will also tell the stories of young Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury. Rhimes will write the series and serve as executive producer alongside Betsy Beers and Tom Verica.

Netflix provided quotes about the project to Deadline, and given the huge streaming and cultural success the first season of Bridgerton had it’s not exactly a surprise that more of the historical fiction series is on the way. The news seemingly means at least four seasons of Bridgerton, and at least a season of Young Charlotte.

“Many viewers had never known the story of Queen Charlotte before Bridgerton brought her to the world, and I’m thrilled this new series will further expand her story and the world of Bridgerton,” said Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria. “Shonda and her team are thoughtfully building out the Bridgerton universe so they can keep delivering for the fans with the same quality and style they love. And by planning and prepping all the upcoming seasons now, we also hope to keep up a pace that will keep even the most insatiable viewers totally fulfilled.”

As Deadline pointed out, it’s difficult to know just how much Bridgerton is on the way. The eight Julia Quinn novels Bridgerton was based on each followed a sibling, a model the show in theory could follow. But we’ve already seen significant departures from the novels, starting with the existence of Queen Charlotte in the first place. What’s certain, though, is that if people keep burning for the show, more characters will get their backstories fleshed out on screen.

[via Deadline]

The next generation of the console wars is actually shaping up when it comes to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 exclusives, and this week, PlayStation fans got bad news when it came to a major Bethesda release on the horizon. While games like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will be a PS5 exclusive on consoles, Bethesda’s acquisition by Microsoft was bound to create Xbox exclusives and the first of those appears to be sci-fi epic Starfield.

According to reports, Starfield will be an Xbox exclusive, the first major move we’ve seen from games in development that align with Microsoft’s console over Sony’s latest hardware.

We’ll likely hear much more about Starfield at the upcoming E3 later this summer, but it’s the first of what seems an inevitable slide of major Bethesda projects landing on Microsoft’s console (not to mention Microsoft-powered PCs) following the more than $7 billion acquisition of the company. Months into the PS5 and Xbox Series X era, we still haven’t seen many console exclusives shape the landscape for a variety of reasons. Games expected to be console launch titles saw delays, and the pandemic pushed things back further as making games became more difficult than ever.

Starfield, for example, was first announced in June 2018. And so far, we still have little more than a teaser trailer for the game and a GIF of its logo.

The news caused a lot of speculation about Sony’s console exclusives on the horizon and the endless battle between fans of either Microsoft of Sony’s consoles. Meanwhile, PC gamers simply watch the fight from the sidelines.

While nothing is official just yet, it all does raise the stakes a bit for E3 and Microsoft’s presentation there. Where hopefully, we learn more about when we’ll actually see some Series X/S exclusives actually reach consoles in the coming months.

[via VGC]

The Philadelphia 76ers will enter the 2021 NBA playoffs as the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference. Friday night’s 122-97 drubbing of the Orlando Magic solidified Philly’s place atop the East, and while their ultimate goal of winning a championship is by no means achieved, the Sixers’ star player celebrated the accomplishment after the game by shouting out the polarizing experiment — as well as the architect of said experiment — that got him in Philly.

During his postgame press conference, Joel Embiid, who was obviously in a pretty good mood over how things played out on the evening, made it a point to say the rallying cry “trust the process” right as he left. He then realized he wanted to praise former Sixers executive Sam Hinkie, and made the last thing he said before leaving “Sam Hinkie knew.”

Embiid, of course, got the nickname “The Process” after coming to Philly amid their years-long rebuild that saw some really down years, all with an eye on eventually getting to a point where they are doing things like competing for the 1-seed and being viewed as a championship contender. While Hinkie has plenty of detractors for how he went about this, Embiid has vocally supported him over the years, so it doesn’t come as a big surprise that he heaped praise on Hinkie despite him resigning five years ago.

Lil Baby and Lil Durk both had a strong grasp on the hip-hop world in 2020. The former can credit this success to his sophomore album, My Turn, which turned out the be one of the year’s most-streamed albums, while the latter put forth two impressive projects with Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and The Voice to reach a new level of popularity. Now, together Baby and Durk will make the most of their talents on their upcoming joint album, Voice Of The Heroes. While the effort was due for a May 28 release date, the duo reportedly chose to delay it in respect to DMX.

The move will not have Voice Of The Heroes compete with DMX’s posthumous album, Exodus, which will be released on the 28th. So, in order to allow the late rapper to have a day of his own for the project, Baby and Durk opted to push their joint album back. According to HipHopDX, the news about the delay was shared by Swizz Beatz during an album listening session for Exodus, which was held in partnership with Universal Music Group. It’s unknown when Voice Of The Heroes will be released, but hopefully, listeners won’t have to wait too long to get their hands on it.

Back in March, Baby spoke about the joint project during an interview with MTV News. “God damn, that’s the new one. We coming. Me and [Lil] Durk dropping an album, fa sho,” he said. “When it comes to that street sh*t, the streets is like, we the voices and the heroes of this sh*t. You know what I’m saying? Kids look at us like heroes. I know they look at me like one and [Lil] Durk, too. That n**** been holding it down for a minute.”

This fall will mark two years since Earthgang dropped their debut album, Mirrorland. If the Atlanta rap duo had it their way, Earthgang’s sophomore album, titled Ghetto Gods, would already be in the hands of their awaiting supporters. Unfortunately for everyone involved, a bit more patience will need to be exercised, but in the meantime, supporters of the rap duo can enjoy Earthgang’s remix of Drake and Rick Ross’ “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” which they released on Saturday.

Wowgr8 and Johnny Venus depart from their usual soulful spirits as the former dives deep into introspection while the latter reflects on the past years of his life. Venus’ verse seemingly addresses the delayed album.

“Release date is what I’m waiting on / Interscope gotta crunch the numbers,” he raps. “This industry is flooded with mindless muddles cause lies sell / The ugly truth might not bring in the money / Don’t they know it’s real sh*t the people want? / A pause from the pill-pop subscription joint.”

Back in February, the rappers revealed the project would arrive the same day as J. Cole’s next full-length effort. That turned out to be Cole’s The Off-Season which dropped on Friday. That day came and went, however, without Earthgang’s new album. As a result, they opted to share their “truth” through the new freestyle “for those asking why Ghetto Gods didn’t drop.”

You can press play on the remix in the video above.

Don Lemon signed off of his CNN show on Friday night with an announcement that made many think he was going off the air for good. The CNN Tonight With Don Lemon host apologized for setting “the internet on fire” after an abrupt signoff on Friday night that sounded to some like he was leaving the cable news network for good.

Friday’s broadcast included the note that the edition of his 10 p.m. show would be the final CNN Tonight.

“It’s been really, really great,” Lemon said. “This is the last night that will be CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.”

Many interpreted that comment that his show, and potentially Lemon’s time at CNN, was at an end. And as speculation ran wild on social media, Lemon went to Twitter with an impromptu video intended to put people at ease.

“Everybody calm down, I didn’t say I was leaving CNN. I just said it was the end of an era for CNN Tonight with Don Lemon,” Lemon said. “I’m not leaving CNN.”

Lemon apologized for getting everyone riled up, but later explained that the show is just getting a rebrand. Starting Monday, he will host a newly name show for the first time since he started with the network in 2014. Lemon posted on Saturday about the change, complete with a new graphic for the show’s new name.

“Didn’t mean to set the internet on fire,” he wrote Saturday. “What I said last night was true. ‘CNN Tonight with Don Lemon’ is no more. I’ll be back on Monday with my newly named show Don Lemon Tonight.”

[via NY Daily News]

Nicki Minaj went more than a year without dropping new music before she made her grand return on Friday. The Pink Friday rapper should absolutely be given grace for her time off, as it included the birth of her first child and the tragic death of her father. Nonetheless, Minaj stepped back into the music world by adding her beloved mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, to streaming services with three new songs which included “Fractions” and “Seeing Green” with Lil Wayne and Drake.

Shortly after the release, however, Minaj was forced to hop on Instagram Live and address rumors that were floating around her. The rumors insinuated that Minaj was using drugs, specifically cocaine. During the livestream, she made it very clear that she has never used cocaine in her life.

“I don’t know if it’s just me, but I wouldn’t be embarrassed about any f*ckin drugs I did, that’s why I talk about the motherf*ckin drugs I do in my motherf*ckin music,” she said. “Always have, always f*ckin will. If I’m off em, I’m off em [child], but I want to make this clear so open everybody’s ears, clear your ears out. I have never, ever in my life with my hands on Jesus Christ, and y’all know how I feel about my Lord and savior. Never in my life, ever, not even once sniffed coke. ever.”

Minaj then explained why she felt it was necessary to address the rumors.

“I have a lot of friends, or acquaintances in the industry who do coke,” she added. “I don’t judge them for it but I’ve never tried it, never wanted to, never asked them to. Especially in the fashion world, that’s so common and normal, but yes.

“That’s the thing, when people used to lie about me I never used to clear my name and there was someone who took a major step and told that lie to people,” she continued. “And I never addressed it because I thought it was too ridiculous at the time to address but something just told me to now.”

You can watch a clip from the livestream above.

Beam Me Up Scotty is out now via Republic Records. Get it here.

After years of releasing mixtapes, Conway The Machine shared his official debut last fall with From King To A God. Just like the rest of the Griselda members, Conway wasted no time getting back to work as he returned with another project, La Maquina, in April. The eleven-track effort was highlight by features from Ludacris, JID, 2 Chainz, El Camino along with fellow Griselda acts Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn. Just a little over a month removed from sharing La Maquina, Conway took his talents to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform one of the album’s tracks.

Sliding through with Ludacris and JID by his side, Conway took the late-night TV stage to perform “Scatter Brain.” The track is a favorite from La Maquina and the performance itself made for the rapper’s national television debut. The trio delivered their slick-lipped rhymes while pacing around an eerie stage that contained disconnected televisions, barbed wire, and floor-grazing smoke.

During a recent interview on Apple Music, Conway shared when fans could expect his next project.

“That should be coming out this summer. Like, June or July, and I’m excited,” he said. “We had to go through the channels I had to go through a lot of the stuff that had sample issues, and we couldn’t get some stuff cleared. So, songs didn’t make it, that got put out early on other projects. We had to make other songs and stuff to make up for it. It was a process but it’s finally complete.”

You can watch the performance in the video above.