Category: News

On Tuesday, the music world was shocked by the news that Dr. Dre suffered a brain aneurysm. According to TMZ, who broke the news, the hip-hip mogul came down with the malady on Monday and was quickly rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he currently remains. The report revealed Dre was in stable condition in the ICU, but that doctors have not yet discovered a cause for the bleeding. Hours after his health scare was made public, the West Coast native hopped on Instagram to thank family, friends, and fans for their support and assure them that he would be out of the hospital soon.

“Thanks to my family, friends and fans for their interest and well wishes. I’m doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team,” he said in an Instagram post. “I will be out of the hospital and back home soon. Shout out to all the great medical professionals at Cedars. One Love!!” An attorney for The Chronic rapper also told Billboard that he is “resting comfortably.”

News of the aneurysm came on the same day that super-producer and Dre’s longtime friend Jimmy Iovine revealed that the two have plans to build a high school in South Central Los Angeles. The school would be a bridge to the USC Jimmy Iovine And Andre Young Academy, an undergraduate program they established in 2013.

All eyes are on Georgia tonight as the runoff election in the state senate there will essentially decide American policy for the next few years. Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock face off against Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. But with all this time on their hands waiting for the votes to be counted, internet sleuths did what they can always be counted on to do — dig up old tweets.

While in plenty of cases this can lead to disturbing or upsetting tweets, the message the music internet has has fixated on tonight is a 2012 reply to Pitchfork, a popular music reviews site, expressing his enthusiasm for what he hoped would be a forthcoming review of Imagine Dragons. “@pitchforkmedia Looking forward to your writeup of the new @imaginedragons album,” Ossoff tweeted, so long ago that the company’s handle has since changed to just @pitchfork.

However, Pitchfork is known more for its interest in independent rock, and the stadium-sized anthems of Imagine Dragons have been rejected by the publication for quite some time. In fact, Ossoff actually had to wait six years for them to even acknowledge Imagine Dragons. And even then, the review wasn’t a favorable one.

So why is Jon so supportive of the Vegas-based rock band? Well according to writer Josie Duffy Rice, president of The Appeal, a publication that covers “policy, politics, and the legal system,” Ossoff and the band’s drummer Daniel Platzman went to high school together.

It’s always a little jarring when politicians cross into the pop culture world — like Secretary of State Antony Blinken having a Steely Dan-inspired band — but in this case, people are finding it funnier because of widespread critical disdain for Imagine Dragons. However, not everyone feels that way about the band, and it’s pretty endearing on some level to see the Senate hopeful was sticking up for his high school friend all those years ago.

In the meantime, let’s all keep hoping Ossoff pulls a win off an unprecedented win tonight.

Eric Trump has nothing on his older brother. He doesn’t get shouty at rallies or conventions. He doesn’t go on TV with curiously red eyes and blabber incoherently or record himself making sloppy motel rants. Alex Moffat’s portrayal of Eric on SNL as basically as a kind of sweet-natured idiot. So when he went on Hannity and tried to openly blackmail Republican lawmakers into helping them overturn the election his father lost, it, well, wasn’t that threatening.

It was the night before both chambers of Congress meet to count each state’s already certified Electoral College votes. A number of senators and House members have vowed to push back. It won’t work. Some people, including the outgoing president, think Mike Pence can stop it. He can’t. So Eric tried Plan Z: He threatened people.

“I can tell you, Sean, any senator or any congressmen — meaning on this side — that does not fight tomorrow, I’m telling you, their political career is over, because the MAGA movement is going nowhere,” Eric bellowed. “My father’s created the greatest political movement in American history, and I’m telling you, they will get primaried the next time around, and they will lose.”

Eric also repeated those threats over Twitter.

Honestly, “you will get primaried” isn’t too scary, even if you’re a weak-willed Republican politician who could spend the next couple years getting death threats on Parler. In fact, very few found Eric Trump — again, the other Trump son — exactly goonish.

Some, though, called Eric’s statement out for what it was: blackmail.

Some pointed out that his older brother is no one to aspire to.

And others reminded everyone about that time Eric scammed people donating to a cancer charity.

Back in October, Bruce Springsteen reunited with his beloved E Street Band for the album Letter To You. It was the first project the rock singer made with the band since 2014’s High Hopes, and their reunion proved to be successful, debuting at No. 2 on the albums chart, making Springsteen the first act with a top-five album in each of the last six decades. But The Boss is already teasing some more material.

“I have some projects coming up this year that I won’t tell because it’s going to be a secret then a big surprise,” Springsteen said during a phone call he made to his SiriusXM channel, E Street Radio, on New Year’s Eve. “I do have things to keep me busy this year that will give the fans something to bide their time with.”

On top of that, Springsteen also talked about when he expects to hit the road again on a tour. “If things go according to what Dr. Fauci is projecting, as soon as we can we’ll be out there and that might be somewhere in the New Year of 2022,” he said. “I’m completely projecting because no one really knows but that’s what I think, according to all the information that’s available at this moment.”

You can listen to Springsteen to talk about his 2021 plans and touring in the video above.

Even with the Denver Nuggets struggling to a 2-4 record to begin the 2020-21 NBA season, Nikola Jokic is in a groove offensively. The talented center entered Tuesday evening averaging 22.3 points per game, shooting 61.7 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from three-point range, and Jokic is also putting up 11.2 rebounds per contest. Beyond that, however, Jokic is leading the entire NBA in assists, averaging 12.8 per game, and that is not a small feat (even in a tiny sample) for any center.

In Denver’s seventh game of the season, Jokic showed no signs of slowing down, making an on-brand highlight play by finding JaMychal Green with an unbelievable pass to create a dunk.

Jokic produced five points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the first quarter alone against the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading the Nuggets to a double-digit lead with haste. On one hand, this kind of pass is not particularly jarring for Jokic, simply because he is well-regarded for his vision and execution. At the same time, a seven-foot center is not supposed to be able to do what Jokic does.

Prior to the start of the season, Jokic was already considered the best passing center of all-time. Nothing to this point should dissuade from that view, and this is yet another example.

On January 15, Griselda will release their debut film Conflicted. But before that arrives, the Buffalo-based label will share the movie’s soundtrack. With just days left until it arrives, Griselda dropped the project’s second single, which features Westside Gunn, Wale, and Smoke DZA. The trio linked up on “The Hurt Business” to throw their best rap bars on the table. The track’s title is named after the WWE quartet of Bobby Lashley, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander. Westside, Wale, and DZA are all WWE fans so it’s no surprise that they namedrop wrestlers like Ric Flair, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Ravishing Rick Rude, Gangrel, and The Rockers.

“The Hurt Business” comes less than a month after Benny The Butcher shared “3:30 In Houston,” the first single from the soundtrack. The track concerned the shooting incident at a Houston Wal-Mart that left Benny with a bullet wound in his leg. The soundtrack also sees appearances from Conway The Machine, Armani Caesar, Boldy James, Dave East, Lloyd Banks, and more. The film features actor Michael Rapaport as well as R&B singer J Holiday in addition to Benny and Westside.

Conflicted is just the latest project to arrive from Griselda, which follows an extremely productive 2020. Last year saw eight projects from five of its members, including Westside’s Pray For Paris, Caesar’s The Liz, and Benny’s Burden Of Proof.

You can listen to “The Hurt Business” above.

Conflicted is out 1/8 via Griselda. Pre-order it here.

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

The year 2020 was so bad there was still another election left over for the early days of 2021. Granted, it had the possibility for something almost as seismic as a Donald Trump defeat: The Georgia Senate runoff, scheduled for January 5, could wind up with both houses of Congress blue, costing dreaded Mitch McConnell his ruinous Majority Leader position. It’s still a stressful night. But luckily there was someone who would get us through it: Steve Kornacki.

On paper, Kornacki is a most unlikely Internet boyfriend. He works for MSNBC, which isn’t even CNN. He crunches numbers as news station’s election analyst. He likes khakis. Like hissable Trump minion, he rarely wears suit jackets. But maybe this is exactly why social media has fallen for him. He’s a lovable nerd, and his excitement at things like ballot dumps is an endearing and infectious balm on election nights, which may at all other times inspire us to pull each strand of hair out from their respective roots. Certainly Leslie Jones thought so, back in November.

So the idea of the analyst returning, to preside over two key races had Kornacki heads losing their minds. He was there to provide over-caffeinated reactions to the fates that may befall incumbent Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler as they hold their own against Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — two of the most closely followed Senate races in history. But even if things take a grim turn, at least people could be pumped for some Hot Kornacki Action.

Moms love him.

And why not? He’s a badass, in his pocket calculator way.

And he’s a khaki king.

In fact, Kornacki wasn’t the only election night big board advocate who was turning heads before the big night. There was also CNN’s dapper John King.

In fact, the night’s real stars seemed to be both Kornacki and King.

That being said, some people said they’d rather see Kornacki in a less apocalyptic. context

According to TMZ, Dr. Dre suffered a brain aneurysm on Monday and was quickly rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center where he currently remains. Sources close to the famed producer say that Dre is in stable condition in the ICU, but doctors at the moment are unsure what caused the bleeding. Tests are still being run on the West Coast native as the hope is a cause for the aneurysm can be discovered relatively soon.

The news about the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul comes after super-producer and longtime friend Jimmy Iovine said that he and Dre have plans to build a high school in South Central Los Angeles. The school would be somewhat of an extension of the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, an undergraduate pogram they established in 2013. In addition to that, the West Coast producer has been entrapped in a high-profile divorce case with his ex-wife Nicole Young. It was previously reported that she is seeking $2 million per month in temproary spousal support and an additional $5 million in attorney fees. Dre said that her $2 million per month request was “ridiculous” as he was already paying for a number of her bills. Initial reports of the divorce said that the couple did not have a prenuptial agreement, but that was quickly refuted. However, Nicole has requested that a judge reject the agreement as she claims Dre ripped it up during the early part of their marriage.

Hopefully Dre will recover quickly and begin his return towards good health soon.

(via TMZ)

This story is currently being updated.

It’s fair to say few have clung to as many false hopes in such a short span of time as outgoing (and possibly flatulent) president Donald J. Trump. In between filling his Twitter feed with baseless accusations, he sometimes lodges incorrect claims about some gambit that could lead to the four more years he so desperately wants to serve. One of the most prominent has been that when Congress meets on January 6 to ratify Joe Biden’s presidential win, his vice president, Mike Pence, can simply overturn it. Finally, the day before, Pence allegedly broke the news to him that, no, that’s not true either.

Sources told The New York Times that during his weekly lunch with the president, Pence had to belatedly point out that his role at the joint session between the House and Senate is largely formal. He does not, Trump learned, have the unilateral power to alter results sent to Congress by the states, all of whom long ago certified their votes.

It’s unclear how Trump reacted. Did he flip the lunch table, sending his Filet-O-Fish into Pence’s tartar sauce-drenched face? Did he deflate like a balloon? Did he calmly absorb the news, accepting the grim legal and economic fate that awaits him after January 20? Almost certainly not the latter, but the first two are in the realm of possibilities.

Pence, however, did tell Trump that, as per the NYT, “he would keep studying the issue up until the final hours before the joint session of Congress begins at 1 p.m.” But that sound suspiciously like him trying to calm him with a comforting lie.

Mind you, Wednesday’s joint session is bound to be a nightmare anyway, given how many congress members have vowed to raise Cain over Biden’s clear win. As per NYT:

In a process that is likely to go on for many hours, Mr. Pence will preside on Wednesday over a roll call of the states. If at least one senator and one House member object to the results from a state, they can force a debate of up to two hours about those results. Each chamber will then vote separately on whether to certify that state’s results.

Sounds exhausting! But at least that, too, will only be a formality, if one that wastes gobs of time:

For results to be overturned, both the House and the Senate would have to agree to do so. Because the House is controlled by the Democrats, there is no realistic possibility of any state’s outcome being rejected. In addition, many if not most Senate Republicans appear likely to join all Democrats in rejecting challenges to the results.

But truly the only ones it will affect will be both chambers of Congress as well as Pence, who will likely have to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to nonsense before formalizing what’s been known since early November: Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump lost.

(Via The New York Times)

The presentation of the 2020 Heisman Trophy didn’t arrive with the normal level of pomp and circumstance, simply due to the realities of the current landscape. In fact, the award was presented virtually on a Tuesday evening and seemed to fly under the radar as a result. However, the group of finalists, featuring Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith, Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and Florida quarterback Kyle Trask performed at a remarkably high level during a challenging season. In the end, Alabama senior wide receiver DeVonta Smith took home the coveted hardware.

Smith led the country in receptions (105), receiving yards (1,641), all-purpose yards (1,912) and receiving touchdowns (20), all while being a game-breaking weapon for the best team in the country. He certainly benefitted from having an elite quarterback in fellow Heisman finalist Jones, but the 6’1 pass-catcher was dynamic, and Smith’s impact took on even a greater role after fellow standout Jaylen Waddle went down with an injury in October.

In an all-time run of productivity, Smith accrued at least 144 receiving yards in seven of his last nine regular season games, with the two (relative) hiccups occurring in blowout wins that saw Alabama rest starters for extended minutes. Though the game didn’t “count” for Heisman purposes, Smith also reinforced his impact with seven catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns to help Alabama defeat Notre Dame in the College Football Semifinal.

With the win, Smith becomes the first non-quarterback since Mark Ingram in 2009, the first wide receiver to claim the Heisman Trophy since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991, and only the third winner at the position in the award’s illustrious history. Now, the next step for Smith will be taking the field against Ohio State with a national title on the line and, after that game transpires later in January, he will make the jump to the NFL as a presumptive first round draft pick.