Category: News

During quarantine, Fat Joe has been hosting his Instagram Live show, aptly named The Fat Joe Show, frequently bringing on guests from the hip-hop community to talk through various issues that will be interesting to rap fans. This week’s show was a bit more solemn than usual, as Joe and his guest, fellow New York rapper Maino, discussed the growing problem of gun violence within rap. Of course, this has always been an issue practically since the inception of the genre, but a recent spate of shootings that resulted in losing a young rapper like King Von had the topic at the front of Joe and Maino’s minds.

Joe mentioned that he considered titling this episode “Rappers Are In Danger,” that’s how serious he thinks the issue is. “We seeing rappers getting murdered every day,” Joe said. “We’re seeing rappers go to jail for big sh*t. This ain’t little sh*t, Maino, right? Have you managed to stay out the way, like to get caught up with these things.”

Maino, who spent several years behind bars himself, remembered that hope of getting out and setting goals is what kept him going while locked up. But he also remembered how easy it was to get caught up in anger and pettiness. “When you working toward something, you’ve got a purpose,” Main said. “You set these goals for yourself, you got somewhere to go with that. The problem is that we losing focus on what is important and what’s not. Like I said before, music was a way out. That’s a door to something different. The opportunities is endless. We don’t have to dodge street n—-s. How? I don’t want to die there. That’s counterproductive.”

Joe echoed Maino’s idea that music as a way out is how he escaped from potential violence, too. “Boom, I moved on and never looked back,” Joe remembered. “I said, ‘Alright, I’m going to do it in this rap sh*t like. I’m going to do this rap sh*t and that’s it. It’s gotta go here.” The conversation ended with the two veterans hoping that a younger generation can follow a similar trajectory, and keep themselves safe during an increasing bout of violence and death. Watch the full show below.

It’s been a little over two years since Pusha T delivered his last album, Daytona. Since then, the rapper has stayed fairly quiet, but now he’s ready to make his return. He shared some details about his upcoming fourth solo albumwhen he appeared on RapCaviar’s Instagram Live alongside his manager Steven Victor.

“To be honest with y’all, I haven’t put any features on the album yet,” Pusha T responded. He did reveal that Kanye West and The Neptunes were among the producers. Both are people Pusha T has worked with often. Kanye served as the executive producer on his 2018 album Daytona while The Neptunes’ last production credit was on “Revolution” from his 2013 mixtape Wrath Of Caine. Pusha seemed confident in the project, saying, “You know I bring the best. I bring the best out of everybody.”

Earlier this year, Pusha revealed that he was working on not one but three projects, one of which will feature “the filthiest of hip-hop” beats, which was sent to him by Tyler The Creator. He shared the news during a Discord AMA session and promised that he’s “got a lot to say” on the projects, saying “a lot’s went on,” leaving him with “a lot to address.”

Since the tragic shooting death of Ermias Davidson Asghedom, the rapper professionally known as Nipsey Hussle, outside his Marathon clothing store last year, his family, loved ones, fans and the local Los Angeles community have been in mourning over losing a young legend so soon. As was already noted at the end of last year, even after his death Nipsey was earning millions of dollars. Outside of his work as a rapper and a musician, Nipsey was well known for pouring his time and energy back into the local underprivileged communities of Los Angeles, and his Marathon clothing store was just one part of that.

According to recent reports from TMZ, his remaining estate is valued at around $4 million, including a 25% share in the Marathon clothing brand, and 100% shares of his own corporation, All Money In No Money Out, Inc. The valuation includes all the trademarks of his name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness which is worth close to a million on its own, along with personal jewelry and expensive items. There was no real estate included in the valuation, but that might mean that properties or other assets of that nature are owned through companies and that is factored into the bottom line.

Nipsey is survived by his girlfriend Lauren London, and his daughter, Emani Dior Angelique Asghedom, and son, Kross Ermias Asghedom. Nipsey’s estate will be split between his two children. For now, London will control the half belonging to their son, Kross, and Nipsey’s family, who currently have custody of Emani, will control the other half.

John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight is off the air until the new year, and though many, many interesting things have happened in the world since it stopped airing mid-November. But Oliver and company returned on Sunday for a little segment asking a burning question that’s far older than the 2020 election: What does the Pringles mascot’s body look like? After all, since 1967 the world has only seen his head (and fabulous mustache).

It didn’t take long for Oliver to take an answer. The potato chip brand recorded a video response, in which we finally meet the mascot, name of John Q. Pringles, as he welcomes viewers into his shockingly normal (if slightly upscale) home.

Mind you, the video doesn’t answer all of Oliver’s questions. He wondered if Mr. Pringles was short or tall. He’s tall-ish, especially with that outsized head. Oliver also had some more intimate questions: “Does he have a lot of body hair, or is he completely smooth? When will he be able to tell me what his nipples look like?” Those will have to remain mysteries, as John was fully clothed, in festive red. We also know that he’s pretty skinny, with a big fat head. He also conspicuously lacked his famously thick hair.

A dumb distraction from our grim times? Sure, but it was for a good cause. In the tweet, Team Pringles said that “[i]n honor of every second John has thought of Mr. P’s body, we are donating $1 to @feedingamerica, which happens to be $10K.” Feeding America, of course, is a famous nationwide charity of food banks, which feed more than 46 million. And this season, as Mitch McConnell and the Republicans hold up a much-needed second pandemic stimulus package, they’ll be very busy. Perhaps you’d like to make your own donation, if you can.

You can watch the original segment below.

(Via Deadline)

The great state of New Jersey is known for many things — Bruce Springsteen, a debate over what you call a round, circular disc of meat (either Taylor Ham or something else that is incorrect), me, the Cake Boss, lots of stuff. But few things are associated with the state like The Sopranos, HBO’s triumph of a television series that told the story of Tony Soprano, his real family, and his mob family. It ruled.

Anyway, regardless of whether or not you have seen it, you probably know to associate the show with the state. The fine folks at Rutgers are aware of this, and decided to lean in during the team’s basketball game on Tuesday night against Syracuse. Like many teams, Rutgers is unable to have fans in its stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so they’ve opted to put a bunch of cardboard cutouts in the stands.

For Tuesday’s game against Syracuse, this meant that Tony and some of his loved ones took in the performance by the 21st-ranked Scarlet Knights.

Tony (who was portrayed by the late James Gandolfini, a Rutgers graduate) was joined by his wife, Carmella; his henchman, Paulie; his daughter, Meadow; his nephew, Christopher; and his consigliere, Silvio. All of them woke up this mornin’ and got themselves a ticket to see Rutgers play Syracuse.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of John Lennon, who was assassinated by Beatles fan Mark David Chapman in 1980. Lennon’s tragic death was mourned by a shocked world then, and now that several decades have gone by, it’s still an important date for those who remember what they were doing on that fateful day when they learned of his passing.

Sports and political commentator and journalist Keith Olbermann shared one such memory today, noting that he happened to be visiting his old college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and ended up breaking the news while DJ-ing live. Definitely not the kind of carefree content a former student is expecting to provide while visiting their alma mater.

“40 years,” Olbermann wrote on Twitter. “By absolute accident I was back visiting my college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and of all people I was the disc jockey as the news came in of John Lennon’s shooting, and then death. Here’s part of the aircheck (and the sad news came in as we played “In My Life”).” He shares a recorded snippet of the show that night, which includes them playing several Beatles and Lennon tracks in homage as the news changed from learning Lennon was shot to hearing he had died from the wounds.

Listen to the clip below.

Donald Trump Jr. swore he wasn’t blitzed out of his mind during his infamously keyed-up speech at the Republican National Convention. (He said nothing about his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle’s even shoutier soliloquy.) Still, the president’s oldest son has become infamous for his unhinged speeches and Fox News appearances and tweets, where he gets worked up beyond all hope and splutters incoherent conspiracies. The same day that his dad was dealt a crushing blow by the Supreme Court, Jr. went on Tucker Carlson and at one point he went from zero to 60 in record time.

The subject was Georgia’s Senate runoff, which occurs on January 5 and which could flip the Senate blue, handing Democrats control of all three branches of government. Jr. wanted to get out the vote. Only problem: The Trump team has spent the last month trying to erode faith in America’s electoral process, claiming, baselessly, that it’s overrun with fraud. The president’s bumbling legal team even made it worse, telling Georgia voters to boycott the runoff election because the two Republican candidates had not sufficiently condemned irregularities, for which no proof exists.

Carlson acknowledged that this all has left Republican voters “very dispirited, very distrustful,” convincing them that “it doesn’t matter who controls the Senate.” When Tucker asked Jr. for his thoughts, he took a very long pause, then man oh man did he give them to him.

“I think that’s literally what the Democrats want you to believe,” he shouted. “They could love for you to take this stance, that it doesn’t matter, to roll over and die.” He then tried to scare them with all the scary things Democrats would do if they controlled both houses, including statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico. He bulged his eyes. He shook. He used the word “literally” at least three times.

The sudden explosion of fury took people, even those used to Jr.’s over-the-top outbursts, aback.

A lot of others wondered if he’d…well, you know.

Some wondered if it was finally time for an intervention.

But if you stopped and actually listened to the content of his words — not just the spastic aggression with which he delivered them — the logic seemed…well, not exactly air-tight.

Taylor Swift has had a phenomenal 2020, due in part to her critically acclaimed album Folklore, which she released to fans back in July and which UPROXX recently named best album of 2020. Now she’s paying it forward, helping two mothers who were in tough financial spots by giving them $13,000 each.

According to Billboard, the singer had read about their struggles in a Washington Post article that highlighted Americans who’d fallen behind on rent due to the government’s failure to reach an agreement over a second stimulus package. One of the donations went to Nikki Cornwell, a single mother from Nashville, who said she fell $5,000 behind on her rent and was uncertain if her children would enjoy Christmas this year. “This has been a horrible year for us,” she said on her GoFundMe page before revealing that she was supposed to begin a new job in May but could not after she tested positive for COVID-19. She added, “It’s been rough because I’m not the only person looking for work. My family would appreciate any help this holiday. I am definitely praying for miracles. God bless everyone.”

Along with the donation, Taylor shared a message with Cornwell. “Nikki, I read about you in the Washington Post and thought it was really brave of you to share your story,” she said. “I’m so sorry for everything you’ve had to go through this year and wanted to send you this gift, from one Nashville girl to another. Love, Taylor.”

Taylor’s other donation when to a woman from Michigan named Shelbie Selewski, who said she lost her job this past spring and was forced to “stay home with my young daughter who was born with a collapsed lung right before Covid (Dec) and was hospitalized for two months after at Childrens.” She added, “We have sold everything we could possibly sell and with that have always paid our bills as much as possible but it feels like every day something else comes up.”

Swift left the following message with Selewski: “Shelbie, I’m sending you this gift after reading about you in the Washington Post … No one should have to feel the kind of stress that’s been put on you. I hope you and your beautiful family have a great holiday season. Love, Taylor.”

(via Billboard)

Republican Representative Louie Gohmert has never achieved the celebrity dunkable status of a Matt Gaetz or a Jim Jordan or even a Steve King, but not for lack of trying. He was part of the Tea Party wave into Congress during the Obama era, and the things he said were harebrained enough to inspire Mother Jones to place him on a 2009 list entitled “Capital Hill’s Most Unhinged Republicans.” But on Tuesday he suddenly went viral — not for something he said, but because it looked like one of his teeth fell out of his mouth while he was talking at a press conference.

The Texas representative was coming out hard against one of the major issues gripping America right now. No, not COVID-19. No, not outgoing president Donald Trump’s increasingly laughable attempts to overturn the election. No, not even about how much Piers Morgan looks like Brenda Fricker’s homeless woman in Home Alone 2. It was about…renaming military bases that were named after Confederate leaders? That’s still a thing, apparently! And as if to show that the GOP is literally falling apart, as he spoke he had to pause while a tooth-like object rattled in his mouth.

The above clip is normal speed, but here’s one slowed down and zoomed-in.

Gohmert later confirmed that it wasn’t a tooth. It was a temporary crown that had come loose. He then somehow managed to tie it into Hunter Biden’s laptop and (baseless accusations of) voter fraud, chastising reporters for being uninterested in a politician who isn’t very famous and is speaking about a subject people cared about over the summer.

Gohmert also tried to create a hashtag around “#Crowngate,” a quick search on Twitter shows it never exactly took off.

In fact, if you known Louie Gohmert’s name in 2020, it’s probably because he was one of many Republican politicians who tested positive for COVID-19, after being mask skeptics who played down the severity of a pandemic that’s currently spiking in places that voted for Trump’s failed re-election. One doctor speculated that teeth falling may be a long-term symptom of having had COVID-19; after all, we’re only now starting to see the grim side effects of surviving the disease.

Still, a New York Times piece says the jury’s still out on that one. Perhaps Republicans simply need better health care, to hook them up with better dentists. Maybe some kind of “Medicare for All” would be a good way to stop people from having teeth fall out while they’re speaking on camera?

(Via Mashable)

In advance of Tuesday night’s clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys, an unexpected storyline emerged, and it went beyond the bizarre nature of yet another NFL game in a non-traditional time slot. Prior to kick-off, Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant broke the news that he was pulled off the field during warmups and told that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Given the proximity to kickoff, Bryant’s positive test posed a number of questions but, in short order, the league determined that the show would go on. Bryant reportedly had an inconclusive test from earlier in the day and, when that prompted another test, the follow-up procedure yielded a positive result.

Bryant broke his own news but, in a hurry, he expressed frustration about the result, citing his consistent routine.

Finally, Bryant seemingly announced his intention to opt out of the remainder of the 2020 season less than 20 minutes after his initial announcement of the positive test.

The 32-year-old Bryant is no longer the Pro Bowl-caliber player that he was in Dallas, but he caught four passes for the Ravens two weeks ago against the Tennessee Titans in a narrow loss. It will be interesting to see what kind of fallout is produced, both by the NFL’s process and in Bryant’s specific situation, but all indications are that this might be the last time he takes the field in 2020 and, just minutes after the news, the Ravens and Cowboys took the field, which Bryant had questions about.