Category: News

won’t really have a head coachKyrie Irving made headlines for a pair of things he said on Kevin Durant’s new podcast, The ETCs. Irving turned heads by suggesting that the Brooklyn Nets won’t really have a head coach, although his argument did make sense, as he mentioned that the team has a number of voices around first-time coach Steve Nash who can provide input and help the team make informed decisions.

The other raised a few more eyebrows. Irving, in praising Durant’s ability to score, said, “One thing I’ve always been comfortable with is, I felt like I was the best option on every team I’ve played for down the stretch. This is the first time in my career where I can look down and be like, that motherf*cker can make that shot too and he’ll probably do it a lot easier.”

Now, this led to a whole lot of eyebrows being raised, as Irving, you know, once played on the same basketball team as LeBron James. But Irving pretty obviously meant this as praise of Durant more than a knock on James — who, famously, stayed out of the way as Irving hit the shot that won the Cleveland Cavaliers a championship in 2016 — and after the comments made the rounds on the internet, Irving took to Instagram and tried to cool things down.

“Come on, y’all, don’t listen to the false narratives,” Irving said. “Let people live their lives. It’s just a game. Talk about the art, talk about the sport, you talk openly, you talk freely. But, because we live in a clickbait society, it becomes something bigger. You don’t have to defend it, that’s just what media is. It’s entertainment. I’m not gonna let it put me against anybody anymore at any point, because that’s not what it is about.”

Again, while there’s certainly a way to read Irving’s comments to Durant as a knock on James, it’s probably fair to take him at his word here. The two are close, and again, in the biggest moment of their respective careers, the ball was in Irving’s hands and he delivered. And besides, Durant very well might be the best 1-on-1 player to ever live.

Hip-hop is moving as fast as ever. Luckily, we’re doing the work to put the best music in one place for you. This week, there were new videos from Spillage Village, as well as Fivio Foreign and Polo G. There was also new music from Roddy Ricch, Don Toliver and Internet Money, as well as Megan Thee Stallion and Young Thug. Here’s the best of the rest:

Dyamond Doll — “DWade” Remix Feat. Trina, Ball Greezy

The Miami Heat are in the NBA finals, and Dyamond Doll linked up with fellow Miamians Trina and Ball Greezy for the “DWade” remix, where the three MCs liken themselves to the NBA legend, with Ball Greezy noting, “God knows we need a Pat Riley week!”

Flee Lord — “Line Stay Buzzin”

Flee Lord’s matched by few in the rap game. The Griselda affiliate just dropped 12 projects in 12 months. He celebrated his feat on “Line Stay Buzzin,” a grimey lyrical exercise where Flee bigs himself up and incredulously asks, “You on the same album? / I just did a dozen.”

Guap Tarantino — “Say My Name” Feat. Playboi Carti

Guap Tarantino enlists Playboi Carti to have fun with him on “Say My Name,” a feel-good trap burner where the two have fun over thumping 808s and producer DMCGlobal’s electro-inspired synths.

Jade Amar — “Rebound”

Though Jade Amar’s “Rebound” is set on a basketball court, the confident lyrics have nothing to do with her hoop prowess. Just her second single, the Ray Real-produced track shows her dropping basketball references like “real women take charge in the paint” while letting her new situationship know not to get ahead of himself.

Liam Bailey — “Champion” Remix Feat. Black Thought

Black Thought offered a thoughtful opening verse to UK artist Liam Bailey’s “Champion” remix, letting the woman of his eye know that, “if life is like a novel then you’re the star of the story” over a minimalist, Reggae-influenced production.

Lupe Fiasco — Tape Tape

Lupe Fiasco and producer Soundtrakk dropped off a two-pack with their Tape Tape project. “Oh Yes” is a smooth track where Lupe shows off his melodies and affirms, “I got architecture in my veins.” On “Apologetic” Lupe turns the energy up on the electro-hop, letting us know “if I drop a freestyle b*tch I drop it off the roof.”

Noodah05 — “Wild Child“ Feat. Lil Baby

Upcoming artist Noodah05 scored a big-time feature by having Lil Baby on “Wild Child,” where the two jump on a bouncy trap beat to share the trauma and danger of their upbringing and how it instilled their resilience today.

Wavy Navy Pooh — “Guwop” Remix Feat. Gucci Mane

There seems to be a new “Guwop” inspired song title or artist name every month. Gucci’s ringing in “Woptober” by jumping on Wavy Navy Pooh’s latest single, where he’s “ridin’ through the A with a K like I’m Guwop,” and Gucci reminds us he’s “Big Guwop the Rolling Stone / I put all these rappers on.”

Westside Gunn — Who Made The Sunshine

The beauty of today’s rap game is that artists can be an entrenched name before they even drop a studio debut. Such is the case with Westside Gunn, who’s releasing his debut studio album on Shady today. His Who Made The Sunshine project is another venture through Prada and peril on tracks like “All Praises” with Boldy James and Jadakiss. The album also boasts features from the Griselda crew, Black Thought, and Slick Rick who shines on the sinister “Good Night.”

Willie The Kid — Capital Gains

Willie The Kid is talkin’ money on his latest release Capital Gains.The 10-track album shows him locked in over soulful, brooding soundscape along with features like Action Bronson, Eto, Currensy, and Roc Marciano, who shows up on the jazzy “Durban Poison.”

YG — My Life 4Hunnid

YG is back with another dose of unflinching rap with mass appeal on My Life 4Hunnid. The 14-track project is stocked with guests like Lil Tjay, Ty Dolla Sign, Gunna, and Lil Wayne, who shows up on the flute-based “Blood Walk.”

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

Back in January, President Trump said that he had the coronavirus outbreak “totally under control.” Approximately 73 months later, over 200,000 Americans are dead and cases are back on the rise after a summer slowdown — oh yeah, and as we learned on Thursday night, Trump tested positive for the virus. In that sense, Alex Gibney, the Emmy- and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and indie distributor Neon couldn’t have picked a more apt day to release the trailer for Totally Under Control.

In the documentary, Gibney, along with co-directors Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, examines the government’s “beyond incompetent” response to dealing with COVID-19; it did not “just disappear,” shockingly. “With damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting, Gibney exposes a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of Presidential leadership,” Neon notes.

Here’s more:

On January 20th, 2020, the U.S. and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19. However, 9 months later, the novel Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 344 lives have been lost. Where did we go wrong?

As the presidential election nears, Americans are increasingly enraged by a lack of clear leadership, endemic political corruption, and left to wonder how did the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world manage to fail so thoroughly in its response to a global pandemic? … It will be a generation before we know the full extent of the damage wrought by this pandemic, but Totally Under Control will stand as the definitive account of the Trump administration’s incompetence, corruption, and denial in the face of this global pandemic.

Totally Under Control premieres on On Demand on October 13 and Hulu on October 20.

Kacey Musgraves has gotten familiar with storied American institutions. She has a well-established relationship with Willie Nelson, she guested on The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo to cover “Rubber Ducky,” and now she has met up with the Scooby-Doo gang.

She voices herself on a new episode of Scooby-Doo And Guess Who?, and she posted a clip from the episode, writing, “Scooby-Doo and the gang came on down to Nashville to help crack a major Country Music mystery! No — it wasn’t to solve the lack of female airplay!” While Musgraves’ clip doesn’t reveal what the mystery is, it does show her feeding Shaggy and Scooby a huge feast featuring a variety of hot sauces, one of which is intense enough to burn a hole through the wood floor.

On Twitter, Musgraves shared another clip, of her meeting the whole gang (she already knew Daphne since they’re best friends in the show).

Musgraves also offered instructions on how to watch the episode for free: “if you wanna watch it all you have to do is download the @boomerangtoons app (it’s free) and that episode is available also for free. (you don’t have to make an account or anything.) Click on Scooby Doo and then on ‘Scoobtober Premiers’ and my episode is the first one!”

Check out the clips from Musgraves’ Scooby-Doo episode above, and watch the full episode by following the directions Musgraves provided.

Despite justifiable concerns over South Park applying its brand of “both sides” humor to the deadly serious COVID-19 crisis in America, “The Pandemic Special” appears to be just the antidote that some viewers were looking for. The hour-long episode, which was simulcast on MTV and MTV2 along with its home on Comedy Central, brought in the best ratings for the animated series in the past seven years. Via Deadline:

The Comedy Central animated veteran scored 2.3 million Live+Same Day total viewers and a 2.1 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic on the network. That was the show’s highest L+SD demo number in seven years, up 168% vs. the series’ Season 23 average. It also ranks as the highest-rated scripted telecast on ad-supported cable in 2020.

Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that”The Pandemic Special” dropped in the middle of a content drought with the fall TV season being thrown into disarray when productions were scuttled during the pandemic. The fact that South Park scored the highest-rated show of the year would suggest that viewers stuck at home are hungry for entertainment, however they can get it.

That said,”The Pandemic Special” defied expectations as it heavily skewered President Donald Trump’s disastrous response to the coronavirus and offered a fair and insightful rumination on the lockdown through one of the show’s patented Stan speeches. Even more surprising, while creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have historically looked down on voting thanks to their libertarian views on the two party system, “The Pandemic Special” broke tradition and encouraged viewers to vote. It was a rare and welcomed moment for a show whose pathos for two decades has been “caring isn’t cool.”

(Via Deadline)

The deluxe version of ASAP Ferg’s Floor Seats II EP dropped today and so far, it seems the highlight of the tape is the Monica-featuring “Big ASAP,” which samples Keni Burke’s 1982 hit “Risin’ To The Top” and addresses the recent controversy in which ASAP Mob founder ASAP Illz claimed Ferg had been kicked out of the group.

“Some of my n****s got jealous, they see their man rose,” Ferg flexes on the first verse. “I can feel the resentment every time n****s speakin’ / They congratulate you, then they let the anger sink in.” Those bars are just the setup, though, as he questions Illz’s temerity straight-up in the second verse. “How you go and kick the leader of A$AP out?” he wonders. “I keep my foot on these n****s’ neck ’til they pass out.”

Although Illz is considered one of the founding members of the Harlem-based crew, another member, ASAP Nast, denied that Ferg had been kicked out. Meanwhile, Ferg himself was seemingly unfazed by the out-of-the-blue announcement, only posting an offhand Instagram video in response. He also had a similar unbothered reaction to the lukewarm reception of “Move Ya Hips,” another Floor Seats II single which fell short of the expectations of guest rapper Nicki Minaj’s more fervent fans.

Listen to ASAP Ferg’s “Big ASAP” featuring Monica above.

We could all stand to witness some sweetness and light today, and The Rock is here to oblige. The megastar recently opened up about his family’s struggle with COVID-19, but he seems to be feeling much better now. His spirits were certainly high enough to send a video (as posted by Twitter user Jamie Klingler) containing a serenade to 101-year-old Marie Grover on her very important day. Given that he was entirely alone while buzzing along on a golf cart, The Rock removed his mask and let his birthday tones fly.

“This is the joy that we need in 2020,” Klingler wrote. “Thank you @TheRock for helping us to celebrate #grandmomgrover’s 101st birthday! She loves you and we do too.”

This actually isn’t The Rock’s first rodeo with Grandma Grover. During happier times for all, The Rock still made time during his busy 2019 to send a centennial-themed shoutout her way. The gesture was noted by CNN and around the world, and thank goodness Grandma Grover is still kicking and surviving 2020. She (and her boundless enthusiasm) can be an inspiration for all in how to remain positive during incredibly negative times. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be serenaded by a charismatic WWE-turned-movie star. Only hydraulic gates should be unhappy to see him coming.

To state the obvious, Cardi B often works explicit lyrics into her music. Heck, her latest mega-hit, “WAP,” is built on explicit lyrics. For her new Blackpink collaboration “Bet You Wanna,” though, she kept things pretty tame. However, that doesn’t mean Cardi didn’t want to go in a characteristically dirtier direction.

Late last night, Cardi took to Twitter to say that it wasn’t easy keeping the song clean and reveal the alternate lyric she originally had in mind: “Ok my last tweet of the night …It really hard for me to do a verse with no curse words and PG [crying laughing emoji]..I really wanted to say ‘I bet if you get me WET I’ll still be on fire’ [crying laughing emojis].”

Not long before that, Cardi also discussed how she sees the song: “No lie tho ,serious talk I really see this song on a girly movie .Like a girl trip movie,or like the last song they play on a movie when the girl gets marry and live happily ever after.What ya think ? Bardipink your area.”

The Album is out now via YG Entertainment/Interscope. Get it here.

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

The latest episode of Indiecast is presented by Steven Hyden’s new book This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ And The Beginning Of The 21st Century, and arrives on the same day that Radiohead’s seminal album was released in 2000.

It’s hard to believe in retrospect, but many music critics in the early ’90s assumed that bands who became popular after Nirvana could never last. With the success of Radiohead’s “Creep,” they were roped in with other bands that fizzled out after their one-hit-wonder, with many turning their noses up at the somewhat nerdy alternative rock outfit. Needless to say, those estimations couldn’t have been further from the truth.

In many ways, the band’s fourth album Kid A was the culmination of Radiohead putting their alternative rock era behind them, moving toward the more esoteric, dream-like sound that we’ve come to know and love. Twenty years after its release, Kid A is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time, and marked a new beginning for the legendary British band.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Hyden is singing the praises of Bartees Strange‘s debut album Live Forever while Cohen is plugging Dubnobasswithmyheadman and Second Toughest In The Infants, the first two albums from British electronica band Underworld.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 10 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Jeff Goldblum made a promise to his Instagram followers: if 1,000 of them signed up to vote, he would reenact a “classic” scene from Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur masterpiece Jurassic Park (I have always wanted to use the phrase “dinosaur masterpiece”). Which classic scene? It didn’t matter, because every Jurassic Park scene is a classic scene.

“This election is wildly important, and you have the power to really make a difference,” the actor wrote. “But first, you’ve got to get Good to Vote! If 1,000 of you register to vote, or check your registration status, or request a mail-in ballot… I will recreate a classic Dr. Ian Malcolm moment from Jurassic Park.” Less than two days later, at least 1,000 people registered to vote, and Goldblum enlisted Sam Neill (and a drop-in from Laura Dern) to recreate the moment where Ian explains chaos theory to Ellie. Goldblum wrote:

That was fast! We’ve already hit 1,000 voting actions. As a reward, please enjoy this re-enactment of the “Chaos Theory” scene with my original costars @samneilltheprop and @lauradern! AND! If we get 1,000 more voting actions through @headcountorg (link in bio), I will post another classic Jurassic Park reenactment…

They should have done Nedry’s death scene, with Neill as Newman and Goldblum as the spitting dinosaur, but this is good, too. Anyway, here’s the original scene.

And here’s the reenactment.

Goldlbum, Dern, and Neill (who has the only good Twitter account) will reprise their characters in Jurassic World: Dominion, out on June 11, 2021.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)