Category: News

Over the course of her career, Ariana Grande has collaborated with some big-time artists, including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Mac Miller, Big Sean, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, Future, John Legend, and plenty of others. That said, there’s a musical legend who doesn’t seem too keen on singing with her, and that’s Chaka Khan.

In a recent interview with Vlad TV, Khan asked about possibly working with Grande, and she responded, “F*ck her.” She clarified her answer, continuing, “She’s alright. She’s good on her own. She don’t need… plus, I don’t wanna sing with another woman. I ain’t got nothing to say with a woman. You say it by yourself. We ain’t gonna talk about no man. We not gon’ do none of that stuff. It’s not happening.”

The thing is, however, that the two have actually already collaborated, as they teamed up last year on “Nobody” from the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack. Khan spoke candidly about her feelings on the track during a 2019 Variety interview, saying, “It’s a cute song. It’s a song, you know, about Charlie’s Angels. It’s, you know… it’s not gonna change the world, OK? It’s a good song in a movie.”

Elsewhere in the Vlad TV interview, she cited Anderson .Paak as a modern artist she likes, saying, “He’s got a future. So there are a few young people I really would [work with].”

Watch the interview clip above, and listen to “Nobody” below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Monday, October 5th, marked the American release of the Woodford Reserve Baccarat Edition. I’ve always been a fan of the Kentucky-based brand, so hearing about this new, very-pricey (we’ll get to that), super-exclusive expression left me intrigued. And, thanks to the perks of my job, that state of curiosity was soon converted into actually getting to taste the stuff.

The partnership between Woodford Reserve and fine crystal maker, Baccarat, is aimed at celebrating the connections between Kentucky and France. Woodford Reserve is located in Versailles, Kentucky — named after the city in France where royalty did their drunken cavorting. The original name of the project was Woodford Reserve Lafayette (honoring both the French general and the Kentucky city). But then came a twist. The North American sales director for Baccarat, which operates out of New York, visited Kentucky and toured Woodford Reserve’s distillery with his family.

On this tour, the guides pointed out cognac casks that were being used to finish the juice destined to become the Lafayette bourbon. This, in turn, compelled the director to inform his Parisian headquarters about this exciting expression. Baccarat promptly reached out to Woodford Reserve about taking part in the bottling, and the rest is history.

So what’s so special about this whiskey to excuse its $2,000 price tag?

Well, some of that cash is certainly attributed to the spirit. It’s Woodford Reserve Bourbon, finished in no-less-than-three-year-old XO cognac casks from France. But a whole lot of the cost comes from the bottle — which was handcrafted with Baccarat crystal and transforms into a decanter when the whiskey is gone. It takes five days to make each bottle; the stopper is also made by hand.

So far, only 2,000 bottles were made. The expression and its future are contingent on demand and, assuming it outpaces supply, the timeline on which the crystal can be made. Check my tasting notes below.

Woodford Reserve Baccarat Edition

ABV: 45.2%
Distillery: Woodford Reserve Distillery, Versailles, Kentucky USA
Suggested Price: $2,000

The Whiskey:

The bottle design is the signature Woodford Reserve silhouette and is engraved in gold with both the Woodford Reserve and Baccarat logos. It is presented in an iconic Baccarat red box and includes a handmade crystal stopper ornamented with Woodford Reserve’s initials. This is a collectible — targeted to fans and brand loyalists — but it’s also meant to be enjoyed.

Tasting Notes:

Aromatic caramel and butterscotch hit the senses before you even take that first sip. The palate captures the best of both worlds — since the cognac and whiskey have a commonality when it comes to complexity and balance. Hints of dried fruit and slight spiciness tickle the tongue, while the robustness of the French and American oak shines through without being overpowering.

You won’t experience a lingering finish, but it has a creamy mouthfeel that I most certainly welcome.

Bottom Line:

Woodford Reserve calls this their way of “elevating American whiskey globally.” Personally, I’m not a fan of the hefty price tag, but I get it. It’s the Baccarat crystal you’re ultimately paying for.

As for inside the bottle, at the end of the day, it’s still the tried and true Woodford Reserve that I love — with a nice added depth from the cognac finish.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in Game 6 to win the 2020 NBA title. It marks LeBron James’ fourth championship in his already stellar career — with his third different team, no less — and a mind-boggling 17th championship for the Lakers organization.

Throughout the playoffs in Orlando, Kobe Bryant’s tragic death has loomed large over the organization, and the Lakers as a team have not shied away from the weight of the unimaginable loss and the self-imposed pressure they readily assumed to bring home this year’s title as a tribute to the NBA legend who is gone far too soon. The paid tribute to him throughout the playoffs by regularly wearing their Black Mamba uniforms, originally designed by Bryant back in the 2017 season, and Anthony Davis discussed Bryant’s influence on the team after they hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy.

For LeBron, it was much more personal. He and Kobe had developed a unique bond over the years as friends and competitors, and the loss hit LeBron particularly hard. On Wednesday, LeBron took to Instagram to share a simple but moving tribute to the man whose enormous shoes he’s had to fill as he’s taken up the helm for the franchise where he spent his entire career.

Many players would be hesitant to play for an organization whose star player cast such a long shadow, but LeBron welcomed the challenge from the beginning, and Kobe didn’t hesitate to welcome him into the fold and pass the torch when signed in free agency two summers ago.

The Lakers will now start looking toward the future, where they figure to remain as one of the top title favorites next season with their superstar duo of LeBron and Anthony Davis. There’s no doubt that Kobe would be proud of what his friend and team have accomplished this season, not to mention their potential to continue their dominance and extend the Lakers’ legacy.

Everybody who was involved with the Lakers this season is getting a championship ring, regardless of whether they played a second of the Finals or whether they even made the trip to Orlando for the restart. Point guard Avery Bradley for instance, will be getting one, despite forgoing the trip to Florida out of concerns for the health of his son, who suffers from respiratory illness.

DeMarcus Cousins will be eligible to receive one as well, even though the team waived him February. Cousins tore his ACL in August of 2019 before he could ever suit up for the Lakers in the regular season but remained on the roster until the trade deadline while he rehabilitated.

With free agency now approaching, Cousins is looking toward his next opportunity in the league, and if his new workout video is any small indication, it appears he could be a contributor next season.

“ Patience is bitter, but it’s fruit is sweet. “ pic.twitter.com/pepq2IVGIg

— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) October 13, 2020

The 30-year-old Cousins is coming off of two devastating injuries, and despite what the video might have us believe, it’s far too early to tell just what he might be capable of as far as a role on an NBA team is concerned. Still, it’s good to see Boogie back on the court and looking relatively smooth and agile. Hopefully, he can avoid any further injuries as he looks to make his comeback and draw interest from teams around the league.

The Billboard Music Award show returned Wednesday night with a very different set up as nominees and performers were left to accept their awards and perform their tracks in a practically empty theater. However, the night went on with some thrilling performances and great wins from names like Billie Eilish, Post Malone, and more. However, one of the show’s biggest moments came not from a performance, but rather through Lizzo’s award acceptance speech. The singer took the stage to accept her award for Top Song Sales Artist artist and during her speech, Lizzo used the spotlight moment to reinforce the importance of voting next month and address oppression in many different groups while commending those who are fighting against it.

I just wanted to say I’ve been thinking abut suppression and the voices that refused to be suppressed, and I wonder would I be standing here right now if it weren’t for the big Black women who refused to have their voices be suppressed. I just wanted to say right now if you are at home watching this and you are thinking about changing yourself to feel worthy, this is your sign to remain true to who you are.

Lizzo continued her speech with a reminder of the power the human voice holds. “When people try to suppress something, it’s normally because that thing holds power,” she said. “They’re afraid of your power. There’s power in who you are. There’s power in your voice. So whether it’s through music, protest, or your right to vote, use your power, use your voice, and refuse to be suppressed.”

You can watch her speech in the video above.

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

Just two weeks after making history as the first K-pop group to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, BTS hit the stage at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards to perform their hit song “Dynamite.” Dressed in sharply-fitted maroon suits and backed by a funk band playing on a massive screen behind them they lit up their stage at the airport in South Korea, representing their international crossover appeal.

BTS has been on a live television performance tour of sorts for the past month or so, including a weeklong takeover of The Tonight Show in which they performed their hit songs “Dynamite,” “Home,” “Black Swan,” and “Mikrokosmos.” Before that, they appeared on NPR Tiny Desk for a record store-based performance after the debut performance of “Dynamite” at the 2020 MTV VMAs. As the premiere ambassadors of Korean pop music music, the boy band has been taking over and making sure that if you didn’t know who they were before 2020, you won’t be able to escape them now.

BTS also snatched the top two spots on the Hot 100 this past week thanks to “Dynamite” and a remix of Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s “Savage Love.” BTS is nominated for the Billboard Music Awards for Social Artist and Duo/Group.

Watch BTS’s performance above.

Most blockbusters are waiting out the pandemic, moving further and further back on the theatrical release schedule, as if to avoid what happened to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (at least in America). But Disney has been embracing streaming. Last week they announced Soul, the latest Pixar joint, would skip theaters entirely and wind up on Disney+ — and not even at an extra cost, as they did with their live-action remake of Mulan. On Christmas Day, subscribers will be able to watch the animated company’s latest tearjerker. And judging from the film’s latest trailer, there will be tears.

Honestly, it’s been a touch hard to grok what exactly Soul is about, but the latest trailer makes it much, much clearer. Jamie Foxx voices a middle school music teacher and jazz lover who dies in an accident. He’s reborn as a fuzzy blob in the after life, only to wind up in a kind of before-life, observing how souls develop personalities before they inhabit bodies.

It all looks pretty cosmic and clever, and very much in keeping with the other Pixar films helmed by Pete Docter, whose Monsters Inc., Up, and Inside Out are even more overtly existentially-minded than the others. The message, it seems, is to enjoy life while you’ve got it — and given what 2020 has been like, that’s bound to hit home extra hard as the year comes to an end.

You can watch the trailer for Soul, which hits Disney+ on December 25, in the video above.

Almost four months ago, Guapdad 4000 and Denzel Curry linked up to give fans their second collaboration with “Lil Scammer That Could.” The track landed on Guapdad’s Platinum Falcon Returns EP and followed his and Denzel’s first collaboration, “Izayah,” from Guapdad’s 2019 album, Dior Deposits. The video for “Lil Scammer That Could” was quite the surreal affair, one that depicted Guapdad and Denzel wreaking havoc in a suburban neighborhood. There was even a scene that found the two rappers running over a tied-up police officer with Guapdad portrayed as a train and Denzel as its conductor. Expanding on that scene from the video, the two rappers have debuted a new game that follows a similar concept.

Joining forces once again, Guapdad and Denzel shared their Lil Scammer That Could game on Monday through Instagram. The game presents a Looney Tunes-esque world to fans in which Guapdad and Denzel reprise their roles as train and conductor. Using the train and conductor combo, fans are prompted to eliminate police officers in quite the bloody fashion. Speaking on the new game, Guapdad said the game was a “very ‘Guapdad’ way to call back to both a great song and video but more importantly the state of this country.”

You can try your hand at the Lil Scammer That Could game here.

Guarded 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Before the NBA resumed its season in Orlando this summer, there was plenty of trepidation among players, who were simultaneously concerned about the implications of returning to play amid the nationwide protests and the specter of a dangerous virus that had put the country on lockdown.

Most players eventually opted to join the Bubble at the Disney World campus in July, but there were some who ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the risk their family’s safety. Avery Bradley was one such player who declined to travel to Florida with the Lakers, and as a result was forced to watch his team raise the championship trophy from the other side of the country.

Bradley made the decision to skip the restart because of concerns for his son, who suffers from asthma. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that is particularly hard on groups with compromised lung functioning. But despite the bittersweet experience of celebrating the title away from his teammates, Bradley says he’s come to terms with how the situation played out.

Via Dave McMenamin and Malika Andrews of ESPN:

“I think it is something that is hard, obviously, not being there,” Bradley said. “But I think from the beginning I’ve been able to be at peace.”

***

“You play your whole career working for a championship,” Bradley said, “and knowing that I was this close and a part of something, even though I wasn’t there, is still an amazing feeling.”

Bradley started 44 games for the Lakers before the shutdown and was a key factor in their run to the No. 1 seed in the West, and he’ll receive a well-deserved championship ring because of it, despite not participating in the Bubble games.

Bradley spent his time during the restart home-schooling his three children but still managed to watch all of the Lakers games and texted with his teammates and head exec Rob Pelinka throughout their championship run in Orlando.

(ESPN)

After performing as a retro sci-fi queen in her last televised performance, Doja Cat borrowed more inspiration from the past for a Moulin Rouge-inspired burlesque medley of her hits “Juicy” and “Say So” at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.

Doja Cat has had an eventful 2020. After her disco-scented “Say So” became a TikTok smash early this year, her and Nicki Minaj’s fans teamed up to take the glittery single to the top of the Hot 100 with some risque encouragement from Doja herself. Unfortunately for her, she may have overplayed her hand, leading some of her jilted-feeling fans to dig up a questionable old song and accuse her of participating in racist chat rooms.

She bounced back with a string of features that helped her find her footing, only to find herself sick with COVID-19 and being pit against Nas after he name-checked her on his new album. When she shrugged off the rumors and speculation, she again lived up to her name by landing on her feet with a big performance at the VMAs, where she also won Best New Artist, despite floating around the music industry since 2016. Time will tell whether she’ll use up all nine of her lives, but with her third album complete and covering all the bases, she’s certainly in position to keep giving her haters bad luck.

Watch Doja Cat’s performance above.