Category: News

After big looks like an appearance in the oh-so-viral “WAP” music video, and her own debut album, Queen Of Da Souf, rising rapper Mulatto has been having a breakout year in 2020.

So much so, that she seems to have decided to continue performing live shows during the pandemic, a decision that some fans are dismayed by. The show don’t seem to include any social distancing measures, and flaunt guidelines like avoiding crowds, indoor spaces, and even mask guidelines are all being completely ignored in these settings. In social media clips and videos of last night’s performance at D’Truth Nightclub in Valdosta, Georgia, none of the attendees seem to be wearing masks, and there is definitely not a lot of space between them.

One clip seems to be showing the fire marshall coming in to shut the show down, with mixed results:

On their Facebook page, the club promoted the event as “Baddies Night Out” and also posted video of the performance from a different perspective, showing just how close crowd members are to each other:

People are sharing thoughts on Twitter about how these events could be risking the spread of COVID-19 and putting lives in danger:

The risk of the pandemic is exactly why the rest of the music industry has shut down live shows for now. Hopefully, these shows won’t continue and Mulatto will begin to understand the risks — she wasn’t wearing a mask, either.

Fans hoped that Drake would deliver his sixth album, Certified Lover Boy by the end of the year, but last month the Toronto native revealed in a promo video that they would have to wait until January 2021. But he won’t end the year without any new content. On Saturday, the rapper shared a brief promo video to Twitter on Saturday that teased his upcoming collaboration with Nike. It also confirmed that the collab will arrive on December 18.

Back in August, Drake shared a preview of to expect from the Nike collaboration. In a post to his Instagram story, the rapper shared an image of a white Nike baseball hat with a lipstick stain on the brim, plus Nike Air socks with a red heart around the brand’s iconic swoosh logo. Before that, he tried to secure a trademark for Certified Lover Boy, but he ran into some issues, one being the 1980s band Loverboy, best known for their hit “Working For The Weekend.”

In other news, Drake also said he believes Certified Lover Boy will receive some hate when it arrives. He made the comment after a fan told him “views be hittin different” in the comment section of an Instagram Live session Drake held with his dad. The rapper responded, saying, “they hated on views just like they will CLB but it’s music to evolve to.”

A lot of shows have been cancelled during the pandemic, and GLOW, improbably, was one of them. Luckily there’s been a trend for beloved shows that were unceremoniously axed: a movie to wrap things up. Deadwood — one of the all-time great short-sightedly killed programs — got one. Community may get one (though that one’s really taking its time). And now GLOW — Netflix’s beloved female wrestler show — may get one, too. It just may take a bit.

Alison Brie, one of its stars, recently appeared on The Playlist’s podcast The Fourth Wall, where was inevitably asked about doing just a bit more GLOW. Having been on this rodeo before — see: the perpetually stalled Community movie — she was a little resistant to optimism.

“I certainly think a movie could tie everything up,” Brie said. “I’m a little pessimistic about it actually happening just in light of everything that’s gone on this year and how difficult it is to get anything back into production with COVID. And I’m also part of the Community cast, who’s been trying to get a movie going for six years, so what I’m saying is don’t hold your breath because if it does happen, it might take a minute.”

Last month, another of its stars, Marc Maron, was a bit more cocksure than Brie. “I think what they should do is… let us make a movie,” he said. “I mean, let us wrap it up in a two-hour Netflix movie. They had the whole season laid out. We know where it’s gonna go. Why don’t you give the showrunners and the writers and the cast the opportunity to finish the story in a movie?”

Still, even if the GLOW movie never gets off the ground, they still got to do three seasons. “It’s definitely a bummer,” Brie said. “I’m going to miss playing with those incredible women and Marc Maron and Chris Lowell. But you know, we’re so lucky. We’re lucky that we got to make three, to me, perfect seasons of a show. I love it so much and it will live on Netflix forever. So people can still check it out.”

(Via Deadline)

Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) submitted Alex Perez (24-6) to successfully defend the flyweight title at UFC 255 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Perez and Figueiredo traded devastating kicks to open the bout. Figueiredo dropped down for the leg, Perez briefly took his back, but the champ turned right into the guillotine and earned the submission at 1:57 in the first round.

After missing weight in his initial bout with Joseph Benavidez, Figueiredo submitted Benavidez to win the division crown in July. At 19-1, Figueiredo’s lone loss came at the hands of Jussier Formiga by decision in March of last year. Cody Garbrandt is waiting in the wings, after missing out on the title fight against Figueiredo because he suffered a torn bicep in training during the lead up to UFC 255.

Brandon Moreno steps into the No. 1 contender spot with a first-round knockout over Brandon Royal earlier in the night. Figueiredo added during his post-fight press conference that’s the next title defense he wants next.

Perez earned his shot at the flyweight belt with a first-round knockout of Formiga in June, and was riding a three-win streak ahead of his bout.

Coming into the fight, Figueiredo was ranked No. 14 in the pound-for-pound rankings, and could very well be jumping into the top 10 after such an impressive showing.

Valentina Shevchenko (20-3) successfully defended the flyweight title against Jennifer Maia (18-7-1), earning a unanimous decision victory at UFC 255 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Shevchenko opened the first round strong, attacking Maia out of the gate before taking her to the ground. Maia maintained guard from the bottom, holding Shevchenko close, but really not making any progress from underneath for the final four minutes or so of the first.

About 15 seconds into the second and Shevchenko yet again took Maia to the ground, but the challenger was able to explode back to her feet and maintain control in the clinch against the cage. Maia reversed the takedown attempt from Shevchenko, landing on top on the ground and controlling her position flush against the cage with a body lock. Shevchenko nearly escaped with a triangle choke, but Maia slipped her head out in the last moment before closing out the round.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1330381575742218240

Shevchenko landed a few more heavy shots early in the third, but Maia was again able to control the champ against the Octagon wall. Back in the center of the mat, Shevchenko started to let her shots fly, landing a head kick and unloading a few combinations. She stunned Maia with a huge left hand, caught her around the waist and took her to the ground, where she held side control. Maia utilized the underhook and made her way to her feet, again pushing the champ back against the cage. Shevchenko succeeded into yet another key takedown as the round expired.

In the fourth, Shevchenko connected on another huge straight left, but Maia stayed in to exchange. Shevchenko followed her left hand into the body lock, and again, scored points with a big takedown.

Maia opened the final round needing a finish to overcome Shevchenko’s likely two-round lead and immediately went for a takedown. Shevechenko fought her off and continued to work with her back against the cage. The champ and challenger traded shots for the final minutes of the round, sending the bout to the judges and keeping the belt with Shevchenko.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1330383639633403904

Since earning a unanimous decision victory over Joanna Jedrejczyk back in 2018, Shevchenko has been dominant in the flyweight division, knocking out Jessica Eye before earning a unanimous decision win over Liz Carmouche in August 2019 and running through Katlyn Chookagian in February.

Who knows what’s next for Shevchenko, but it shouldn’t be ruled out for a potential return bout with the bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes.

Maia earned a title shot after submitting Joanne Calderwood in August. She came into Saturday night’s bout with Shevchenko a +2000 underdog.

While the Lakers have steadily been adding to their roster that won the NBA championship a month ago, the Clippers have watched as their free agency plans have not yet gone according to plan. They re-signed Marcus Morris to a big deal, but saw Montrezl Harrell join the Lakers and JaMychal Green depart for the Nuggets, meaning they had a significant hole to fill in the frontcourt.

On Saturday night, they were able to do so in a major way when they beat out the Lakers and others for the services of Serge Ibaka, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, as the veteran big man is coming off of one of his best seasons in some time with the Raptors.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports it is a two-year, $19 million deal, which indicates it’s for the mid-level exception.

Ibaka averaged 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season for the Raptors, most importantly putting up those numbers on tremendous efficiency, shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three-point range. He figures to slot into a major role with the Clippers, likely taking on the gap left behind by Harrell, who is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

It’s the first big win of free agency for the Clippers, who pair Ibaka back up with Kawhi Leonard — which likely played a part in landing the big man — as the two won a title in Toronto in 2018-19.

As if we don’t have enough grief with the rock legends we’ve already lost this year, MSNBC has to go and kill Bob Dylan while he’s still alive? In a recent newscast, which has been captured for eternity via Twitter, the network incorrectly reported that Dylan died last year, in 2019, at the age of 79. Watch the clip below:

In fact, Dylan is alive and well, as the tweet notes, and even released a brand new album this year. Rough And Rowdy Ways has drawn lots of praise from critics, as has most of his works — except that pesky ’80s Christian era (which is lowkey great too don’t let them fool you) — and illustrates that even though he’s certainly getting up there, he’s just as productive as ever.

The news story seems to be focused on a trove of lost Dylan lyrics and memorabilia that was recently purchased, noting that the lot of papers was sold for $495,000! Half a million just for lyrics that weren’t ever finalized, that’s a pretty impressive legacy to leave behind. Except, as noted above, he’s still here living the legacy for now. Thankfully.

For the real classic rock heads who want to debate, here’s the remaining question: Who is better — Dylan or Neil Young? And let me clarify, one last time, both of them are, currently, still alive.

Jeezy and Gucci Mane made the internet roil on Thursday night when they faced off for a heated Verzuz battle. After years of bad blood and diss tracks, the two rappers and Atlanta cultural icons managed to achieve some semblance of peace by closing out the night performing their joint track, “So Icy.” Of course, that doesn’t mean all the tension is de-escalated forever, but a lot of the reason why things stayed calm during the face off was due to the demeanor of Jeezy.

In a lengthy interview with Boy Boy TV, he spoke to just that — citing one person who really helped him keep things composed that night. ” “I just felt like I wasn’t gonna lose my cool — I wasn’t going to let anyone, including myself, drag me back 20 years,” he said, commenting on Verzuz around 22 minutes. “I worked so hard to get in a place where things are good for me. I got multiple things going on, I employ a lot of people, and everybody depend on me. Matter of fact, I got a daughter that I love very much. I gotta make it back home to her.”

Continuing on: “I’m not putting myself in no position to prove no point to nobody that I’m real. I been real. … It’s solid, ain’t nothin’ ever going to change that. I don’t have anything to prove. The only thing that I gotta prove to myself is I wanna be better than I was yesterday. That would have been an L for me to walk out of there and be like, ‘Yo, I just really lost my composure out in the world because somebody was playing with me like we in the sixth grade.’”

His priorities have clearly shifted over the years, and it’s definitely for the better. Watch the whole interview above.

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

Rick And Morty is on schedule for a new season despite, well, everything. But before full episodes come our way, we’ve seen a number of small glimpses of the upcoming episodes. And now there’s a PlayStation 5 commercial to add to that collection of animation.

The commercial is fairly simple, with an animated PlayStation 5 sitting on a small table in the Sanchez family living room.

“OK Morty, go, do the thing,” Rick says as he starts to count money. “They paid us a lot.”

Morty mentions that the console is “super fast” and has fewer loading screens, all of which is true on the PS5. He goes into some details about the haptic feedback on the new PS5 controller and some tech specs before, well, getting bored with it all.

“Man, Rick, this commercial is kinda boring. It’s like… the PlayStation 5 is pretty cool,” Morty says, though he gets immediately talked over by Rick to curse in the same sentence as the console they’re selling.

It’s a quick spot, and doesn’t really get into too much detail, which is kind of the point. The show is no stranger to promotional tie-ins and lending its brand to other brands. The show-branded Dungeons And Dragons, for example, is very fun to play. But as Variety noted, it’s part of a larger marketing strategy for the show that does ultimately see some involvement from its creators.

Creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are often involved in devising the commercial content, or at the very least get to approve it. The idea is to keep the characters’ fans entertained by giving them more adventures with their favorites, says Melton –and that sometimes means ad partners have to give up some authority.

As the Variety piece noted, a joke about Wrangler Jeans from the Season 4 finale actually sparked one of these deals, so there’s an odd amount of synergy between what the show finds funny and what actually works in the brand partnership world. Hopefully the PS5 spot won’t exacerbate the already tense relationship between next-gen consoles and the already-rabid fans who want to acquire a next-gen console. Rick and Morty fans, as you probably know, have made a mess of promotions in pre-pandemic times.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has turned into an important piece of the Los Angeles Lakers’ rotation due to his defense and ability to stretch the floor. With Caldwell-Pope expected to be in high demand among unrestricted free agents this offseason, it was worth keeping an eye on whether he’d stay in L.A. or if someone else would be able to convince him to seek greener pastures.

Ultimately, the Lakers were able to get the job done. That’s according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who was able to confirm with Caldwell-Pope’s agent Rich Paul that he’s not going anywhere. He’ll get a nice payday for it, too, earning a three-year, $40 million deal.

Charania confirmed that a number of teams were interested in acquiring Caldwell-Pope, but the Lakers convinced him to stick around. He also added some particulars of the deal, which features a partial guarantee in the third year.

The deal has an especially big fan in Caldwell-Pope’s most high-profile teammate and fellow Klutch client LeBron James.

Caldwell-Pope saw his scoring mark drop in 2020 to the lowest point of his career outside of his rookie campaign, but he made up for that by connecting on shots from deep at the best clip of his career. The 27-year-old wing averaged 9.3 points per game and hit 38.5 percent of his triples last season.